


Fractured Minds

by Zire_7



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender, Teen Titans (Animated Series)
Genre: Angst, Azula plays video games, BAMF Women, BB/Rae Broship, Characters bond over tea, Crazy Azula, Crossover, F/F, F/M, Fem-Slash, Iroh actually starts acting like Azula's uncle, M/M, Multi, Other, Raven's angst needs its own tag, Raven's emoticlones are totally underrated characters and I utilize them to their fullest effect, Robin/Azula Broship I did not see this coming, The loser lord gets what he's owed, Trigger warnings posted at the beginning of the chapters that require them, Zuko is an asshat
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-26
Updated: 2018-02-18
Packaged: 2018-05-23 07:05:09
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 24
Words: 131,615
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6108856
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zire_7/pseuds/Zire_7
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Six years ago the 100 year war came to an end. The Fire Nation has made great lengths to help the world recover but its not so easy for other survivors; especially so for Azula. The fallen princess has faded into the shadows, slipping further into insanity, alone and forgotten. Raven's mission was to search for and recapture criminals that escaped from prison. Only, problem was, they skipped out of the Titan's dimension altogether. Exhausted and pushed to the breaking point Raven demands a vacation to recuperate, instead she gets a request.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Tea Guru & The Half-Demon

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to Fractured Minds. This was inspired by a disturbing lack of decent crossovers on FF.net and no I'm not just being picky. Let's just say this was a case of 'If you want something, do it yourself'. This is the result. All of that said, this is not for the faint of heart. There will be fem-slash, women being BAMF, and generally a lot of shenanigans(some good and some really, really bad. I will post trigger warnings on the chapters that require them. The Graphic Violence tag doesn't cover this at all but to prevent spoilers I won't be specifying or telling you what Ships are ahead). 
> 
> Now for useful tips: Italics are generally a characters thoughts. During flashbacks or Italic heavy sections, any un-Italicized words are the characters thoughts. Bold and Italic words or sections are reserved for Raven when goes all four-eyed half-demon. Underlined words are text messages. 
> 
> Lastly I began writing this in 2011 before the comics were released and I have not read all of the comics for ATLA. So don't get nit-picky at me for ignoring any thing from the comics. Constructive criticism is welcomed and encouraged, if you're going to be a troll...I can't stop you but I will ignore the ever-loving fuck out of your existence. 
> 
> TTFN! 
> 
> P.S. This is also on FF.Net. Yes this story is mine and no I didn't steal it. I'm just getting around to posting it on here.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender or Teen Titans. I own only the plots/situation/ideas that I have placed the characters in.**

* * *

  **Fractured Minds**  
_Prologue: The Tea Guru and The Half-Demon_

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**Seven years ago; 99 A.S.C. (After Sozin's Comet) Spring.**

* * *

 

It had been two weeks since the banished prince had left his wise tea loving uncle to his own devices. The morning had started off just as the previous one had: bland and dull. After ensuring that the water for his tea was set by the fire to boil; if one wishes to make proper tea, one mustn't use his or her fire bending to heat the water. He went off in search of breakfast. His findings were less than spectacular: a few mushrooms, nuts, and some rather suspicious black berries.

After slightly roasting the nuts and frying the mushrooms he removed the boiling water from the fire to add the tea leaves. Which he did slowly to ensure that it was the proper amount of leaves. Letting them soak into the water he dug into his less than filling breakfast.

Having polished off the mushrooms and nuts, the old tea guru pored his perfectly brew tea into his one oddly shaped tea cup; the one he only used when his nephew didn't want any tea. While allowing his Jasmine tea blend to cool he eyed the black berries with a slight weariness; he remembered the last time he sampled berries he found and he still has nightmares about that incident.

While deciding whether or not to sample the berries he collected, a sense of unease spread through the old tea loving man perched atop a rock. Needless to say this uneasy feeling set him on edge, master fire bender or no he was spooked. Inhaling and exhaling slowly he brought his tea cup to his lips. Just as he was about to take a sip, tremors from a small earthquake reached his feet jarring the cup from his hand.

A instant before the cup met with the earth near his feet it was encased in black and rose a few feet into the air to float for a few moments before the black left it, the cup then resumed its downward journey to the ground. It shattered upon impact but that was not what held his attention.

His attention was on the smoke rising from the ground a few meters to the northeast of his position. Leaving the broken tea cup on the ground he set off toward the smoke and whatever it was that had caused it. Moving slowly through the trees that surrounded the impact site he finally reached the edge of a crater.

All along the edge, the ground was scorched black and a few of the trees around it were still on fire. Inhaling quickly he drew the fire from all of the trees nearest him pausing to ensure that the fires had been extinguished he relinquished the fire into the sky above with his technique dragon breath.

His success at having saved the forest from burning to the ground had also dissipated the smoke coming from the crater before him. He cautiously looked over the edge, what he saw literally stole his breath; at the bottom of the crater lay a very strange girl.

He saw that the girl was floating two feet off of the ground, covered from head to toe in red eerily glowing runes, these runes stood out in sharp contrast to her pale gray skin and her violet bluish hair. The last thing that he noticed before shaking himself out of his stupor, was that she had a charka or chakra gem on her forehead; the body's third chakra, the Anja.

The task of getting the strange girl out of the crater was perhaps one of the most difficult things that he had ever done; the crater was deeper than it looked. But never the less he finally got her out of the crater and back to his campsite. The cave he'd picked out a couple of days ago wasn't very big but there was a formation of rocks just outside the entrance that made it difficult for any passerby to find at a glance and thus a perfect campsite for a wanted fire nation criminal.

He laid her down on his only bedroll which was paper thin as soon as he let go of her, her body rose up from the ground and hovered above it. He tried to assess her injuries, however he was unable to determine if she was injured at all.

He was torn on whether or not to leave the girl alone while he went back to check the crater for anything else. In the end he figured that he wouldn't be gone long and the entrance to the cave was pretty hard to find, if you didn't know it was there in the first place. Decision made he quickly backtracked to the crater. Upon closer inspection he found several items near to where the girl had lain, he gathered them up and headed back to his campsite.

Among the items he found there was a blue cloak with several tears in it, after placing the other things he'd found by the girl's feet he placed the cloak nearby and went to find his needles and thread. Despite not having had to patch up his own military uniforms for quite some time he was very pleased with his overall work. With his repairs finished he folded the cloak and placed it with the rest of the girl's belongings.

There was nothing else to do so he settled in for some meditation, he had not felt a need to meditate ever since his nephew had left him. Now however he had someone to watch over and no matter how brief a time; he needed to refocus his mind. Not only did meditation help to maintain ones breathe for better bending but it also helped with the overall health of the body and mind. Every once in a while he would crack an eye open to check on the floating girl across the cave from him.

After several hours of meditation and no change in the floating girl, he felt a strong urge to start preparing his Jasmine tea blend. He was never one to pass up an opportunity for his favorite drink and was quite happy to have something to occupy his time while he waited for the girl to wake up. As he poured the finished tea into one of the two cups he'd placed nearby, he saw out of the corner of his eye that the girl was descending from the air.

When her body made contact with the thin bedroll he spoke softly to her, "Don't be alarmed I am not going to harm you," he paused here to give her a moment to process what he'd said.

"My name is Iroh." His voice wasn't threatening in anyway. But he was cautious all the same as he had no way of knowing if she was from the Fire Nation or not.

His back was to the girl so he didn't see her slowly sit up and turn to observe him. When he did turn to face her, what he saw startled him. Her eyes were glowing white and held a sinister malice in them, it reminded him vividly of his niece, "Where am I?"

A shiver traveled the length of his spine as her tone sounded similar to his nephew's betrothed. He would admit to no one that the girl scared him, she had deadly aim and spent the majority of her time with his niece.

"You're a few days travel from Gaoling; a fairly decent sized town in the Earth Kingdom." he could tell that his words meant nothing to the girl. Her eyes narrowed into slits when he showed no signs of clarifying his information. The silence that followed unsettled him and it didn't help that she hadn't blinked once yet. He decided to let her tell her story in her own time as he'd learned the hard way that people will rarely talk to you, if they don't want to in the first place.

While he was coming to that conclusion a back and forth conversation was taking place in the strange girl's head.

_'Knowledge how did we get here and where is here exactly?' Her question was expected and she hated to admit this, especially to her mistress, that she had no idea._

_'I don't know and my guess is we're in another dimension.' She waited for her mistress to snap at her but it never came._

_'Fair enough, after all I can't expect you to know everything. What do you make of this Iroh?'_

_The yellow cloaked emotion took a moment to push down her surprise at the almost amicable tone that her mistress was using, for she knew it wouldn't last. 'He was sincere when he said he won't hurt us and he was telling the truth when he told us that we're near a town. However he is being cautious with what he's willing to tell us, its nothing bad or directly harmful to us. He can be spoken to plainly. But do not overwhelm him with too much.'_

_Right before she felt her mistress withdrawing she said, 'Be nice to him.'_

It wasn't often that she had pleasant dealings with the inhabitant's of her mind and because of the bizarre situation that she was in, she followed her own advice and spoke plainly with Iroh. "My apologizes, in my line of work it doesn't pay to be caught off guard. I'm Raven and thank you for looking after me."

As she finished speaking Raven glanced around the cave he'd brought her to. Her attention was immediately drawn to her cloak; the last that she could remember before waking up in the cave was that her cloak had had several long tears in it. She locked eyes with Iroh and raised a brow in question.

He chuckled lightly at the sight and, "Apology accepted and after bringing you here, I went back to where I found you and collected anything that I saw there. I noticed that your cloak had been damaged and I repaired it while waiting for you to regain consciousness."

She gave a curt nod in thanks and turned her head away, her emotions were a bittersweet mixture of shock, gratitude, and resentment. She couldn't help but wish that she'd met Iroh before the Justice League and Zatanna; she will never forget the sheer hatred that she'd felt that day. She felt the affect her current emotions were having on her powers and whispered, "Azarath Metrion Zinthos."

As her powers and mind settled into the calm she'd perfected over the years, she reached for her possessions. She was relieved to see her communicator wasn't broken and quickly clipped it to her belt. Before she reached for the rest, her mind registered that the runes were still on her skin and glowing brightly. She repressed the urge to lash out with her powers as she did not wish to alarm Iroh. Instead she quickly put on her boots, wrist bands, and the mended cloak.

Iroh had observed Raven while she was going through her belongings and watched as several different emotions crossed her face. He was concerned at how rapidly her emotions disappeared as soon as she had whispered something that he couldn't catch, again she reminded him of his niece and the exacting expectations of his brother Ozai; whom believed that emotion made you weak.

He cleared his throat and when he had her attention once more, he motioned toward the steaming cup of tea to his left. He watched in amazement as the cup was encased in shadows and seemed to glade gracefully through the air to her hand. When the shadows faded from the cup he saw her sniff the steam rising from the tea. He wondered at this and just as he was about to speak, she look him in the eye and said, "I'm checking for poisons."

He nodded. "Understandable."

She was surprised when he made no further inquires even though she could feel his curiosity increase. Once the tea had cooled off a little, she took a small sip. The moment that the pleasantly hot liquid hit her tongue she had to fight to keep her powers from disintegrating the cup in her hand. As it traveled further into her mouth and throat she felt her scrambled thoughts becoming clearer. She took a deep breath and released it after the delicious tea settled in her stomach its warmth spread throughout her body giving it back its strength.

"This is the best tea I've ever had. Thank you for sharing it with me." The contentment in her voice was very welcome to her, as it had been a rarity for her lately. The last time she'd felt this at ease was long before Slade had visited her on her birthday.

"You're welcome after all sharing tea with a stranger is one of life's most delightful things. Plus tea helps to center the mind and body after a traumatic experience." He spoke these words from experience and he could tell that they seemed to please his unusual friend. With nothing more forth coming from her, Iroh quietly sipped his tea.

"You must have several questions for me?" She muttered reluctantly, wishing she didn't have to disturb the soothing silence inside the cave.

"The only questions that I have any business asking are about your health. And unless my eyes deceive me, it seems that you were lacking in physical energy as opposed to having severe injuries. There is no need in asking you personal questions when I myself am a stranger to you." He took another sip of tea and was content with waiting for her to tell him what was on her mind or whatever else she decided to tell him.

"It's hard not to tell you everything when you put it like that. But I doubt you would believe a word that comes out of my mouth." Her voice sounded defeated and had an undercurrent of uncertainty in it. This and her earlier comment about his tea, still surprised her; she never expressed emotion in either body or voice, it was way too dangerous. But talking with Iroh was super easy, almost as easy as speaking with Azar had been.

"That maybe true, but one would never learn what another would believe should the other be unwilling to test the waters of the others mind." She had to fight back the urge to laugh at him, as he'd just sounded exactly like Azar often would when Raven was younger; mysterious and wise.

She made no move to answer him right away after he spoke, as she was still trying to piece together the puzzle of how she traveled to this dimension and it did not help that she couldn't remember anything. Well...she did remember beating the living shit out of Slade in the old library, scaring her teammates in the process, discussing her origins and the prophecy with them, and going to sleep later that night.

"Alright" She paused here to take a deep breath and then began her tale with, "First I should ask you, what do you know of other worlds?"

He took a sip of tea and thought on her question. Another sip of tea before he answered. "I know of one world, where dwell the spirits as well as those of us that pass on in this life to the next part of our journey through the universe."

_'Hmm…maybe this won't be as difficult as we originally thought?' The emotion was trying to help, she knew this. But this whole situation was starting to suffocate her and her encounters with Slade weren't helping matters either._

_'We can't possibly know that.' She said feeling the weight of trepidation fill her as she recklessly forged ahead._

"I'm originally from a world call Azarath, a world created by pacifistic followers of the goddess Azar. On the day of my birth the monks looked into my future and something terrible is supposed to happen on my 17th birthday. As you can plainly see this event is drawing closer. These red runes are inscriptions that will turn me into a portal that will allow for a terrible demon to ascend to earth and rule the entire universe. But not before destroying it first.

This demon is also my father and once my body is used to create the portal, I know full well that I'm likely not going to survive the process. But my friends think that with enough preparation, spells, and faith that it will be enough to defeat him. When I know that it won't make a difference against him." Her voice was devoid of all emotion by this point but she couldn't stop herself from adding,

"I have no idea why I just told you all of that when I know that there isn't anything that you could possibly do to help me. Short of telling me that you could defeat my father there is nothing that I or anyone else can do about it. But the scariest thing about all of this is I'm resigned to it all. Why fight when there is no point to it. Because in the end I'm still going to die and my friends along with the rest of the universe will too."

_'Wow and I though the Wilting Wonder was depressing.' Of all the emotes in her head why did this one have to come and add to her misery._

_'Why are you here Happy?' She asks not really expecting an answer._

_'Misery loves company and if I didn't know any better I'd say you were happy about our impending doom. And if you give me an explanation I will be happy to leave you alone.' The emote's offer was unexpected and too tempting to pass up._

_'I am happy in a sense. I'll finally be free of father's shadow even if my freedom comes at a very high price; my life.' Before the emote could admonish her mistress for those thoughts, the sound of Iroh's voice unsettled Raven drawing her out of her conversation with Happy._

"If the universe intends for everything to end at your hands then it will but what I have experienced in my life is that the universe or fate rather is not set in stone. It may seem like it is but that's only if you chose to look at it like that. If you have indeed given up then why are you still trying to seek out an answer or a solution?

To use your words why keep fighting for that answer if you have supposedly given up all hope." He said, his words having cut through the white noise of her thoughts.

Before she could speak, he added, "We can talk more in the morning if you'd like. As its late, this old man needs his rest if he's to chase after his lost nephew. Good night Raven."

He gathered up his now empty tea pot and cups. As he turned in for the night he banked the fire and warned her against wandering too far from the cave. He'd seen several signs that saber tooth mouse lions were in the area when he was looking for a campsite.

She was used to long nights and with this one appearing to be the longest of her life Raven found herself thinking of what Iroh had said.

_'Am I still trying to find a solution for Trigon's ascension?' She's rarely ever voluntarily sought a conversation with the inhabitant's of Nevermore but she figured what could it hurt, to try._

_'If you were, you wouldn't have told off Slade like that.' Her answer came with the swirl of a green cloak. 'That was totally badass by the way. Can we do it again?'_

_She ignored the question knowing how well that action would go over with Robin. But she could admit that it felt empowering to toss him around like a ragdoll, no holds barred._

_'Then why do I feel as though I've given up? Why does my life have to be so complicated?' she asks, not really expecting much of an answer from Bravery. She always... just does and never thinks.._

_'Its not complicated. Its a challenge and one that we will overcome together.' She represses the urge to mutter her mantra in response and banish the emote._

_'Don't hold your breath.'_

Deciding that a change of scenery would help her chaotic mind to settle down. As she exited the cave's entrance and stepped around the rocks hiding it, she spotted a decent size rock about six feet away. She floated toward the rock and once she reach the top of it, she sat on its surface in lieu of levitating above it.

Her mind was still preoccupied with her situation and what Iroh had said. Which is why she didn't sense the bandits that crept up on her position. It was only when a malicious thought from one of the bandits broke through to her, did she notice that she was surrounded. On further inspection of their emotions they seemed to be looking for a certain someone.

Narrowing down their exact locations was proving to be difficult for her, once they'd emerged from the trees some ten feet from the cave and the rock she was on; she discovered why. They were riding on something that looked like a rhino crossed with a triceratops. Beast boy would have been ecstatic at seeing the creature that seemed to come out of a living nightmare.

"This is a warning for you. I am not in the mood for any kind of shenanigans. Leave now and no one will get hurt." Her voice was sharp like the edge of a sword.

One of the bandits was wearing feathers on his head, and he let out a deep mocking chuckle. "No that's what we say to the likes of you, girl. Run along now and you won't die tonight."

_**Her vision was clouding over with red and she was to emotionally drained to fight Rage off this time. "I warned you."** _

_**She felt the growth begin and it surprisingly didn't hurt like it normally would. The growth stopped seconds later and she towered over them, the rock helped to make the bandits look like ants, oh how she loved the view from so high. She watched as the men subconsciously came to the conclusion that she was, dragon like.** _

_**She was swaying in time with the breeze, she couldn't stop herself, it was soothing and she supposed that her billowing cloak could resemble wings to an unfocused mind. It was the most terrifying experience that they'd ever had and she was reveling in it. Her voice was cold and blood chilling as she spoke to them, "How refreshing, but I am no dragon."** _

_**She sneered at their trembling if they shook any harder, their bones would snap like twigs. She moved from her place on the rock, her gaze holding all of them in place. It was as she came level with the men that another, more primal, fear washed over her. The animals they rode on only needed a tiny push and she was happy to oblige.** _

_**"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos." There was an eerie echo in her voice and she loved how it sounded. A few seconds after her chant very large shadowy tendrils rushed at the animals and men, promising pain and suffering should they latch on. The tendrils hadn't traveled more then a couple of feet in between them when the animals broke and ran. Everyone of the men had the presence of mind to grasp the reins, for none of them wanted to find out what would happen if those tendrils snared one of them.** _

_' **It felt great didn't it?** ' Oh how she wishes she never gave in._

_'Yes.' She hated how the admission made her feel. Especially because of who she'd admitted it too. She was still there and that unnerved her greatly, it was like she was waiting for more. With a sigh she said, 'Fine I wish I could do that more often without Robin having a cow. It's not like I would injure anyone very much. Just scare the living shit out of them. If he would just let me do that to all the villains in Jump, the crime rate would plummet faster than Beast Boy's tolerance for meat.'_

_The red cloaked emotion nodded in agreement and then disappeared in a haze of red. Concealed below the pathway was Timid, hiding from Red and her mistress as she realized; Red wasn't under Trigon's control and hadn't been since they'd arrived. It was as if something was interfering or hiding her mistress from him._

She felt another headache coming on and so she tried to see if she could get some meditation in before the sun rose. After a few hours of zero meditation later and seeing that she was on a roll, she tried for some sleep. But it proved to be rather difficult with Iroh's snoring and she opted for laying outside of the cave. Unfortunately sleep eluded her as an earth shaking tremor shook her entire body.

She was alert within seconds and shot into the sky. Once she was high enough her eyes caught site of a train racing off in the distance. If anyone else had been observing the train they would have failed to see a lone rider chasing after it. For some reason the sight of the rider sparked something in her and it was a spark of recognition. There was no way that she knew who it was but maybe Iroh did. After remaining in the sky for a while longer she marked the train's location and returned to the cave.

As she reached the cave she knew Iroh was awake already so she wasted no time in telling him all about what she saw.

"I'm sorry to have to rush off and leave you but that's probably my nephew chasing after his younger sister who is chasing the avatar and his friends. It's imperative that I catch up with them. Thank you for your company. I really must get going." His tone was filled to the brim with gratitude. Before he could get farther than a few steps from her, she stopped him.

"Actually it's you who I should thank and I will do that by helping you catch up with them." He looked at her bewildered for a second then felt something lifting him up. He looked down at his feet and all he could see was black.

"I hope you don't get airsick Iroh because short of actually carrying you this is the only way that I can think of to get you close to your nephew. Hold on." As she spoke Iroh felt the wind whipping by him faster and faster. After a short amount of time she slowed and landed safely on the ground.

"This is as far as I can take you. If I take you any further I won't have enough strength to make it home." Her voice was devoid of all emotion.

"Thank you for this I am eternally grateful. Here I want you to have this." His voice was serene as he held out a medium size cloth bag that was filled with the rest of his Jasmine tea.

"But this is... I could never deprave another person of their tea. I can't accept this." Her voice still had its usual emotionless tone but on the inside she was being rebellious.

"I insist that you take this tea and never fear. I am never without tea. Instructions are in the bag for proper preparation.." Before she could say anything the bag of tea was thrust at her and Iroh was just about to disappear around a bend down the road. When she called out to him. "Wait! Iroh let me at least return the favor."

He stopped and glanced back at her. At this she quickly closed the distance between them. "I want you to have this." Iroh eyed the weird yellow rock that she held out to him.

"Don't speak just listen. This is my communicator but I can reprogram it so that it becomes yours. With this device I can keep in contact with you. Even between dimensions. It has a tutorial mode which I implore you to go through as soon as you can. It's fairly durable and its batteries are fully charged. Please take it." Before he could utter a word the device was thrust at him.

Once again he set off and this time he made it around the bend. If he had looked back he wouldn't have seen Raven anymore. But a rapidly dispersing black mist where she'd once been.

Continuing on down the road for quite some time he spotted a nice place for a rest around noon. Where he felt the need to refresh his strength with some much needed tea, however before he could get things started the earth under him lurched and sent him face first onto the ground. Rubbing his smarting behind, he turned to glance behind him and saw another strange girl. But this one was more familiarly dressed, blind, and undoubtedly a very powerful earth bender.

* * *

"Raven where have you been?!" A very irate boy wonder was what greeted her when she appeared in the Tower's common room. She was about to respond when she caught sight of the newspaper that he'd been reading moments before. She'd been gone for four days.

"Don't worry about it," She repressed the urge to just phase through the ceiling when she felt his justified anger and worry. "I left to restock a specific brand of tea that I was running low of. You of all people should know how I get when I don't have my tea."

Before he could register that fact that she'd cracked a joke, she had already escaped through the ceiling of the kitchen and continued onward to her room. While pausing briefly in Cyborg's room to grab another communicator.

 


	2. A Promise Broken

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Important: When you see text that is underlined that is a text message, and if you see word like [this that are in Italics that means lyrics from a song]  
> Songs in this chapter: Welcome to the Masquerade by Thousand Foot Krutch

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  **Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender or Teen Titans. I own only the plots/ideas/situations that I have placed the characters in and my OCs.**

* * *

  **Six years ago, 100 A.S.C. Fall. Ba Sing Sei Middle Ring; The Jasmine Dragon Tea Shop  
**

* * *

His tea shop was finally quiet but he couldn't really blame the Avatar and his friends for celebrating the end of the one hundred year war late into the night; they'd certainly earned it. When they'd left he locked the front doors and moved about cleaning the place up. As he was ferrying dirty dishes into the back room he heard a strange chime. He quickly place the dishes he was carrying into the wash basin and started boiling water for tea. After that he went to the wall opposite the wash basin and pushed against the black wood panel. There was a faint click and then he slid the the black panel to the left.

In the space beyond lay a yellow object that was, oddly enough, flashing with a red light. He grabbed the object and pressed the button that would open it. Immediately the screen lit up and these words greeted him: I hope you are well Iroh. I have good news to share with you, expect my arrival shortly.

He swiftly shut the device, switched it off, and closed it behind the wall before attending to the whistling teapot. He poured the tea into two cups and turned to place the teapot back on the stove. When he turned back to the tea cups he noticed that one was missing, he smiled fondly at this. "You'll have to tell this old man how it is that you do that, Raven."

"Do what exactly?" Her voice held a measure of emotion in it but it was so faint that he must have imagined it. He sipped some of his tea and waited for his friend to reveal herself. He was surprised a moment later when he felt something tap him on the back. He turned and found an empty sack suspended in the air covered in shadow. However it wasn't the bag that held his attention it was Raven. She was sitting at the small table by the back door with her eyes closed and a smile on her face; it was the most relaxed that he'd ever seen her. "One of these days you'll have to tell me how it is that you make this tea."

He laughed heartily at that, as he heard the happiness in her voice. But he had to risk upsetting her for he couldn't reconcile the troubled girl that he'd met, with the almost carefree one in front of him. "You seem much less distressed than when last we met."

He watched as her eyes opened slowly and when her attention rested on him she nodded. "I beat my father. The universe is safe from him." The happiness was still in her voice but it did not reach her eyes and that worried him. But before he could ask she sipped more of her tea and, "Last time I was here, I was curious as to why you were wary of me?"

Rather then answer her right away, he moved to sit opposite of her and as he settled he sipped his own tea. He held back a grimace at the cold temperature. He noticed that Raven hadn't taken her eyes off of him the entire time, he grinned. And a second later watched as the surprise stole across her face when steam rose from his tea.

"The answer to your question is difficult to explain." He held up a hand to still any protests that she had and placed his other one around her cup, moments later steam was rising from it.

"In this world there are numerous people who have connections to the elements; Fire, Water, Earth, and Air. Those people can bend the element to their will and use it in a myriad of ways; some good and some bad. A hundred years ago the Fire Nation attacked the air nomads and almost killed off the airbenders." He paused and gestured to the steaming cups of tea. "I was one of the Fire Nation's top generals as well as firebending masters. But that was before the world and life had changed me. About a month prior to our meeting, my niece placed a price on mine and her brother's head."

_'That's...can we just-' The yellow cloaked emote fell silent as she felt her mistress forcibly hammering her conflicting emotions into submission._

_'Intelligence, we have a limited amount of time here and I don't think Iroh would appreciate his shop being leveled; especially when I can barely control my soul self right now.' She said trying to make the emote see reason._

_'It maybe be the key to controlling them.' Intelligence whined. It'd been the second day after they killed their father when they'd discovered their magical affinity; it was fire magic. But because of the source and the sudden increase in power, they couldn't control it and they'd made no attempts to gain control of it either._

_'How many times have I told you. I want nothing to do with his powers.' her words acted like a bell as they summoned Rage._

_'_ _**I don't often agree with mistress Worm but in this I do. It would be a good idea to ask about this elemental bending. However our,' Rage paused and turned to eye Intelligence. 'Mistress is correct. We could be called back at a moments notice and Iroh seems preoccupied; we may need to seek information on our own.'** _ _It was a shock to both Raven and Intelligence at Rage's compromise._

 _**'Further more, mistress you have won those powers; they are yours now.'** _ _She abruptly turned away from both Rage and Intelligence, knowing that both were right but she'd be damned if she let them tell her what to do. She'd gotten enough of that from her father and Grandmaster Sazz._

_'Please don't shut me out mistress. Not like Candy.' Their mistress said nothing as they felt her presence recede._

"Seems I was fortunate to have been found by you. Thank you again Iroh." She said with no trace of emotion in her voice; unfortunately this occurred a lot when she conversed with the inhabitants of Nevermore. Iroh could sense that she was still troubled by something.

"To truly understand what is eating at me, I need to explain about my abilities; the majority of them stem from my soul-self. Using astral projection I can use it as a shield, telekinesis, and teleportation. I can conjure, control, and manipulate shadows and pure darkness. I can feel other people's emotions as well." She fell silent giving him time to mull over her words.

She'd admit that it was a lot for anyone to take in all at once but Iroh wasn't just anyone, he seemed to take everything in stride. "I noticed last time that you weren't being open with your emotions. I take it that your powers are influenced by your emotions."

Surprised she nodded and continued, having to fight against her burning curiosity and an upset Intelligence, "Before I defeated my father, if I expressed too much emotion it could have inadvertently led to his ascension to earth through me, much earlier then prophesied. Now I'm free to express them more but my powers are even more destructive now. I'm still cursed."

As she finished Iroh heard several ominous cracks and a second later the table between them crashed to the floor. He felt sympathy for his friend, her power was like a firebending beginner's; uncontrollable. He remembered when Azula first got her firebending and the terror that everyone felt; after she'd mastered the basics in a little over two months.

"Does your soul-self lash out randomly?" He could tell his question was unexpected and caught her off guard. He watched her face closely as she though over his question.

"Its always seemed random to me. I'm sorry about your table." He went to wave her concern away when a dark blue light spread across the broken table and as the light moved away from it moments later; the table reassembled itself. The most surprising thing about the whole event was that when the light was finished, their cups and most importantly their tea was intact.

He was too astonished to speak as he stared at the table and then looked up at her with a question on his lips. But she beat him to it. "I'm an accomplished mage as well."

"Have you ever tried to change what happens when your powers lash out?" He asked her as he reached for his tea. He managed a few sips while waiting for her answer.

"No. I was discourage from a young age to never dabble too deeply with my...abilities." She said in a silent whisper and was content to keep it that way as she sipped her tea.

"You could always dabble with them here." He said taking note of the momentary paused in her answer. His offer elicited a reaction from her powers, the table was once more in danger of collapsing but at the last second the blackness receded. "You won't mind?"

He shook his head and stood, pausing to gather their tea cups, motioning for her to follow him. Once the tea cups were in the wash basin and he locked the door that led to his back garden, he led her from the backroom into the tea house proper. It was a fairly large space with at least a dozen or so tables. As they passed through the room and just as he reached the stairwell, Raven's low chuckle stopped him and he couldn't help a small smile creeping across his face. "Whoever drew this is a masterful artist. Reminds me of Starfire's earliest attempts at drawing."

At Iroh's questioning look she clarified, "I never did get around to explaining what my line of work is. I'm apart of a team of people with abilities, like benders, that protect people without abilities from others with similar abilities who've chosen to use them for nefarious deeds. Starfire is on that team but out of the five of us; she's the second strangest. She's from another planet in the dimension that I'm from."

He nodded and led her down the stairs for what seemed like an eternity until they ended in a room that had giant glowing crystals everywhere. He gestured for her to step further into the room with him and when she did, she felt a faint breeze. "Is this enough space?"

"More than enough."

"Good and now this old man is going to retire for the night." With that he left her to practice and returned upstairs. His sleep wasn't peaceful as his mind was plagued by a vivid dream; more of a reoccurring nightmare. One that he'd been having more and more frequently after the war was finally over.

* * *

_"General you must come quickly." The words echoed all around him as he made his way through his family's wing of the palace. It was the first time since his return from the earth kingdom that he dared to venture into his son's room._

_"Its your son. He was clipped by a rock javelin. It came from the top of the wall and caught him completely off-guard." He couldn't breath as more of the lieutenant's words rose up around him. He collapsed to the ground in front of the bed and he felt the tears beginning to fall._

_"Dad-" His voice was wet and he coughed blood from his mouth._

_"Hush Lu Ten save your strength." He knew it was futile, Lu Ten was as pale as the moon and blood was pooling beneath him._

_"Dad would you sing for me. I'd like that." He nodded and in a soft tone began,_

_"Leaves from the vine, falling so s-slow_

_L-Like fragile, tiny shells,_

_Drifting in t-the foam._

_Little s-soldier boy, come marching home._

_Brave soldier boy, c-comes marching home."_

_The soldiers he commanded watched in silence as the Dragon of the west wept for his son. They aren't prepared for his orders to abandon the siege.  
_

* * *

_"I though I might find you here." He lets out a thick laugh at this and turns to regard the speaker. She was standing just inside the room, almost hesitant._

_"Lady Ursa to what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?" His voice was warm but very subdued. It wasn't the first time that they had both wound up in here. He was mourning his son and she was avoiding her husband; he didn't blame her, as Ozai was quite the piece of work especially after smelling blood in the water. He'd dodged his little brother many times in their youth._

_"I have a favor to ask of you." she said._

_"I'm listening." He waved her further into the room and gestured for her to take a seat at Lu Ten's pai sho table. As she moved to the table she composed the request in her head, even with the few seconds it took, to take her seat, she still didn't know how to ask._

_With a sinking feeling settling in his stomach Iroh took a seat at the table as well and waved her on. "My hand has been forced into the Koh's nest that is palace politics and I' won't be around to keep an eye on Azula for quite some time."_

_He stayed silent, he couldn't believe what she was asking of him. And as if she was reading his mind, she said, "I'm leaving to keep my children safe and I know I've never really gotten on well with my daughter so this maybe difficult to understand but I do care for her." The fire lady's face wore a frown as those words fell from her mouth. "No, I love my daughter despite how malicious she is even at the age of six."_

_"I ask you, as her uncle, to watch out for her. Ozai developed an unhealthy interest in her, once she started firebending." She lets out a dark chuckle. Her husband would turn her little girl into a mirror image of himself. But with her bending and heritage, she'd be much worse than Ozai._

_"I fear what she'll become with his guidance alone." she says, allowing the mourning father to turn over her request in his mind._

_She could see the indecision in his eyes. "When word of Lu Ten's passing arrived and when I broke the news to the children, Azula's initial reaction worried me. She just walked out of the room without saying a word. Later that day I found her in one of the disused training grounds, crying."_

_He was in a state of stunned disbelief. He'd had no idea that the two were close...nor that his niece was taking his son's death so hard. In light of this he wasn't about to refuse her request,"I will do as you ask. I promise to look out for her as much as I can by the spirits I swear."  
_

* * *

He woke abruptly and was soaked in sweat. He'd completely forgotten about his promise to Ursa all those years ago. So much had happened shortly after Ozai's coronation and when Zuko was banished he'd abandoned his niece; the whole family had by the end of the war. He could easily blame it on his revulsion upon seeing her enjoyment of Zuko's banishment but that was an empty excuse.

It seemed as if he lay there for hours and as the hours, minutes, passed he was plagued with visions of Azula. In the one he remembered the best she was a lot younger maybe five or six, around the time she began her firebending training. Shadowy figures surrounded her and as they drew nearer to her, the figures were revealed one by one; all of the people in her life. Each one turned away from her and ignored her as she screamed for help. Eventually Azula fell silent and the fire in her eyes died.

When he finally found the energy to rise the next morning he set up his shop for the day and prepared his Jasmine tea blend before descending into the caverns to check on his friend.

"Your sleep was troubled." Her statement stopped him dead and all he could do was stand there as she drew closer. "Would you like to talk about it?"

He never heard her question but what he did hear was his niece's screams, her pleas for help, for affection, for someone to see her; the real her. He tried to shake Azula's voice from his ears but instead of silence it grew in volume. As they reached fever pitch the shadows themselves lit up with blue sparks. And those sparks flared into an azure inferno. He turned to race back up the stairs but when he did, he saw a wall of fire. He gave up trying to escape. When he made his decision everything went dark and finally the screams, had gone silent.

In the distance he saw a small blue spark ignite but it stayed small and as he watched the only source of light, it began flickering. A moment before the flame died, another ignited; it was a little bigger than the last but it too began flickering after a while. He must have seen dozens of lights spark and die before he realized that they were getting closer to him.

When the firelight reached him he saw his niece illuminated beneath it. He couldn't tell how old she was because of how full of malice her eyes were but were he to guess he'd say seven. As the light began to flicker, he saw her as she had been during her brother's banishment, he saw her as she had been on the ship where she attempted to kill him and her brother, he saw her as she had been when she struck the avatar down, and he saw her as she had been after the Agni Kai on the day of Sozin's comet.

But the thing he noticed throughout all of it were her eyes, they weren't filled with malice as he'd originally though, they were filled with fear. Just before the light died he saw her open her mouth, "Where were you when father burned me? Where were you when father forced himself on me? Where were you when mother left me?"

Before he could say anything the light flickered out and a voice sounded all around him.

This voice wasn't his niece pleading for help. The voice was his own. "I will look out for her as much as I can by the spirits I swear."

* * *

He opened his eyes slowly and was relieved to find that that had all been a dream too. It was a moment or two later when he forced himself to prepare for the day. As he was blending the teas for the shop he heard someone behind him.

"Your sleep was troubled." His hands froze mid motion and all he could do was stand there listening as she prepared a pot of tea. "Would you like to talk about it?"

His heart beat was racing and sweat was running down his face as he waited for the screams to start up again. When a minute passed by and nothing changed to indicate that he was still sleeping, he let out the weary breath he'd been holding. "Just an old man's mistakes and broken promises coming back to haunt him. Please do not worry, my friend."

As he felt her turn to attend to the whistling tea pot he resumed prepping the teas he'd be serving that day. Ten minutes later and both were seated at the small table, enjoying the early morning quiet and a excellent cup of tea. The quiet was interrupted a moment later when a messenger hawk flew in through the open back door and landed next to Iroh, the bird screeched at him. Iroh was instantly on alert when he recognized that the hawk was carrying letters for his nephew.

"Bad news?" she asked as Iroh relieved the bird of the letters.

"I hope not. Ah its just an invitation to the north pole to fine tune the details of reparations to be paid" He said as he placed them to the side.

"And that is why I don't envy my nephew his new found lordship." At her raised eyebrow he elaborated. "Too many headaches and my old bones ache far too much as it is."

"You seem much more suited to brewing tea and offering sound advice." The small smile and the warmth in her tone didn't escape him.

"Were you successful?" Instead of answering him, she gestured toward the rest of the room. He glanced in the direction indicated and he gasped. Every last cup, plate, and bag of tea was floating in the air. A second later and everything had returned to its proper place.

"I've only managed to change what happens if I feel amusement or happiness. But I'm sure the rest will come with practice."

He was very happy for her, however it was bittersweet. He had helped this strange girl in every way that mattered when he found her. This girl who'd lived a similar life to that of his niece's; the same niece he'd abandoned at the first opportunity. _Not that she helped matters any._ As soon as he'd thought that an all consuming wave of self-loathing, shame, and guilt washed over him. _It shouldn't have mattered if she was a difficult person to understand._ _I should have helped her! I knew what my brother could, would, and did do to her. And I let him..._

While Iroh was wrapped up in his guilt ridden thoughts a very different conversation was taking place inside Raven's head.

_'His emotions are even more conflicted than when we first met him. What do you think was, and has been eating at him for all this time?' She asked both Happy and Intelligence although her tone toward the yellow emote was cooler than normal._

_'Well while you were preoccupied with Red and scaring the living daylights out of those bandits, I was sorting through all the emotions we felt from Iroh. We reminded him of two people. One was familial and the other was close to someone he's very fond of, his nephew if my memory serves correctly.' She waited patiently for the emote to continue but one of them wasn't as patient as her._

_'Madam Snark, didn't he say his nephew was chasing after his younger sister who was chasing the avatar?'_

_'Happy I can barely hear myself...' She trailed off as Intelligence stepped in front of the suddenly wary pink emote._

_'She's right. We, for whatever reason, remind him of his niece. Needless to say he's not ready to talk to us about it. It may have something to do with the nightmares that plagued him all night.' She said defending Candy Cane from their mistress, despite wanting to hid behind Candy from their mistress. Intelligence could still feel that their mistress was displeased with her and wanted nothing more than to be in her good graces again; the yellow emote cursed her curiosity once more. She was reluctant to speak her thoughts as it wouldn't go over well._

_'Loathe as I am to say this but we'll have to wait until he's ready. And right now he isn't.'_

_'He's helped us so much. Isn't there anything that we can do?' She asked, not expecting a positive response from either Happy or Intelligence. She'd hated the emotions that hit her like a freight train last night. It took her a moment to pinpoint the source of the turmoil and when she realized it was Iroh, her powers almost caused a cave in._

_'We can be there to listen when he's ready to talk.' As she'd expected Intelligence's response wasn't good._

_'I intend to be.' Both the emotes flinched at her tone and while Happy was use to it, Intelligence however, had never been on the receiving end of it._

[ _We've got the fire, who's got the matches, Take a look around at the sea of masks and come one come all, welcome to the grand ball, Where the strong run for cover and the weak stand tall._ ]

Both of the tea loving individuals started at the loud music blaring in the air. Iroh was curious about the strange music and, "A very interesting bit of music."

"It's a good song but unfortunately, this month, it signifies an emergency that requires my presence. I have to return home." He was alarmed at how quickly Raven returned to the withdrawn girl that he'd pulled out of a crater as she spoke.

"One break through doesn't make my powers any less destructive when I express strong emotions. Its for everyone else's safety that I reign in and suppress my emotions." She spared him a small smile, "I can't promise that the next time I return that I will be able to stay for very long."

"I must once more insist that you take this." He said with a smile of his own as he held out a large cloth bag filled with Jasmine tea.

Her smile grew into a wide grin as she waved her hand at the bag and it vanished in a haze of black. In the bag's place, and in turn Iroh's hand, was a small circular object. "Its a new battery for your communicator. Farewell Iroh."

"Farewell." He said watching in awe as she disappeared in a haze of black, just like the bag of tea earlier.

* * *

His mind was distracted for the rest of the day as he thought over the reports that that messenger hawk had brought. He felt terrible for lying to Raven but he wasn't sure that dragging her into his family's problems was a good idea. He also needed time to properly examine the reports and prepare for a difficult conversation with his nephew; a conversation about his little sister.

It was with a heavy heart that he shooed his last costumer out the door and settled in the backroom with a fresh cup of tea; it was time to tackle those reports. As he tore the seals on them, he couldn't help but wince when he saw the official symbol of Crescent Isles emblazoned at the top of the report. Two minutes later and he learned that all eight of the letters were from Crescent Isles.

He'd heard the rumors about that place, Lu Ten had been stationed there very early on in his military career; his son had refused to speak about it. And while he couldn't order his son to tell him, the other soldiers were another matter entirely...the horrors they spoke of. He slowly went through each report and all of them were perfect, perfectly benign, bland, and boring. He knew that nothing involving his niece would ever be boring, this was worrying especially with what he knew of the Isles.

 _Zuko what have you done._ The spirits were surely punishing him for that broken promise of his, for as he though of his nephew, Zuko entered the shop's back entrance.

"Uncle..." The young fire lord trailed off as he looked the older man over, he could tell that his uncle was troubled and that's when he saw the reports spread out on the table.

"Isn't it great? One of my Brigadier General's recommend sending her there. They said that's the best place for her. That towards the end she lost it big time and started banishing people. They said that everyone would refuse to help her." His enthusiasm was brought to a bruising halt.

"You have to get her transferred back to the Capitol, Zuko." His uncle didn't sound angry but there was a tension in his voice as he spoke.

"You have no idea what the Isles are like."

"I know its what is best for her. Besides you weren't there, she...she's insane." He said with all the nativity of youth.

"What's best for her? You really think a frozen underground icebox is the best place for her? She needs to be with family, with you and me. We're all she's got left." Each word was like a kick to Zuko's stomach. The tension in the air was thick.

"You're defending her. Since when? Have you forgotten that she tried to kill us, that she manipulated me into almost killing the avatar? Did you know it was her idea to burn the earth kingdom to the ground?" he returned, completely brushing aside Iroh's concerns with an intensity in his eyes that frightened Iroh.

"Zuko, she is your sister and she needs help your father-"

"Exactly her and father were as thick as thieves, if I kept them close to home they'd probably start a rebellion or they'd try to start another war." He interrupted, cutting off what his uncle was trying to tell him.

"If you won't help her by transferring her than release her into my custody." His uncle's unexpected suggestion ignited his temper.

"No. She'll stay on the Isles until she's better."

"She won't get better if she stays there."

Both of them could hardly look the other in the eye as silence settled between them.

"So you've finally shown your true colors, eh uncle?" he said a while later.

Iroh could really only say one thing, "I made a promise to look after Azula and I've broken that promise. Now I will rectify it."

Zuko inhaled sharply, he didn't need to know who his uncle had made that promise to. Because there was only one person that came to the young fire lord's mind. _Why would uncle agree to...even if she asked him...? It doesn't matter Azula is dangerous and I can't risk her safety or the world's. I'm sorry uncle. Your promise will have to remain broken until Azula is released from the Isles._

"I won't let you." His voice was a whisper. His eyes filled with resolve as he stared his uncle down. "Stay away from the Isles and if you attempt to remove her from the facility, I will lock you up."

With that he turned on his heel and stormed out of the shop's back entrance. If he had looked back he'd have seen the tears falling down his uncle's face and he'd have barely heard, "I've failed you Ursa. But by the spirits I will help you Azula."


	3. Rest & Relaxation

**Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender or Teen Titans. I own only the plots/ideas/situations that I have placed the characters and my OCs.**

* * *

 

There were a couple reasons why Raven hated inter dimensional traveling: you had to travel quickly, quietly, clean up your own messes, and fight off inter dimensional entities looking for a ride. This is exactly how she came to be covered from head to toe in the foulest smelling purple gunk in the history of the Titans; even worse than Plasmaus. The gunk was courtesy of some hob goblins trying to slime their way onto Earth. The half-demon wanted nothing more than to teleport to her bed and sleep for a month but, she'd need to give Robin her status report first. He'd been waiting patiently off to the side while she re-oriented herself.

"That dimension is clear. There's no trace of them." Before she could escape she was stopped by Robin.

"I've been meaning to speak to you about this situation. Are you sure you can't manage two dimensions a month?" He asked of the half-demon, ignoring the death glare that he received from her.

"Sure why not." He blinked in astonished surprise at her almost cheerful response before he was hit in the face by a ball of purple goo. "I'll get right on that while I'm still sporting purple hob goblin mucus that makes Plasmaus smell like roses. And then when I get back we can jump right into a serious discussion about the intricacies of inter dimensional traveling at 4 am."

She tried not to enjoy the sound of breaking glass but she was tired and his sheer idiocy was wearing on her already tested patience.

_'He full well knows why I'm pacing myself.' There wasn't a answer from any of her emotions for even they had some kind of survival instincts. Also in this rare instance everyone was in agreement about how idiotic Robin was being at the moment._

He carefully wiped the purple gunk from his face and audibly gulped at the glass scattered around the strategy room. "Well, I um...I uh..."

She tamped down on the urge to grin widely at how flustered he was and a second later she started speaking, she would have liked to yell at him for even entertaining the notion. But her control was slipping, "Did you just spend four weeks trudging through the foulest smelling unidentifiable substances in the universe? Were you chased by ten hob goblins that can shoot loogies at you from fifteen feet away?"

She paused as the grin from earlier twisted into a sneer as she continued, "Are you at this moment standing in front of a very bossy, controlling, and not to mention a very inconsiderate asshole covered in said hob goblin snot, wishing for a shower in the vain hope that you won't smell like you just sat in a septic tank for several weeks when you get out of that shower?"

The look of abject horror on his face was all the prompting that she needed. "Of course not."

Throughout her rant he saw her eyes had turned red and that her second set had narrowed into slits above the first. Surprisingly other than the glass windows from before nothing else had imploded yet. And he was determined to keep it that way.

"You're right. I apologize and we will talk about this when you wake up tomorrow, if you wake up tomorrow." He said sounding thoroughly chastised.

_' **He will rue this day and-**_

_'Rage. I will say this once and only once, we can't kill him.' the red emote let out a moue of distaste at her mistress for raining on her parade._

_'Pouting isn't your strong suit. We can scare the hell out of him, if and when, he does something like this again.' It was rare when she agreed with her most volatile emotion._

_' **Aw, come on. Can we at least draw some of his blood?** ' Rage's question went unanswered as she knew that the emote was joking._

Hers was a slow and silent journey to her room. Even if she could have teleported directly there, she was too tired to even attempt it. Ten minutes later and she finally rounded the corner and saw the end of her misery; her room. Now that she was done tracking hob goblin snot all over the tower she phased through the walls and entered her private bathroom.

With a wave her clothes were off and from there her shower was a blur. How she'd stayed awake through it was anyone's guess. As the blisteringly hot water had zapped her remaining strength faster than her frenzied aerial escape from those hob goblins had. A weariness that nothing could match settled over her as she collapsed on her bed and before she could crawl under her dark blue comforter, she was in the world of dreams.

* * *

"Breakfast time, all the waffles you can eat!" The wake up call blared over the tower's inter comm system, it was one of the loudest in Titan tower history of wake up calls for Raven. But she was very much dead to the world.

As the cybernetic titan inhaled for another wake up call, he was interrupted by a slightly agitated forest green teenager.

"Dude, there is a better way to wake Miss demonic up. Now watch and learn."

Beast Boy's team mates watched in silence as he went about the kitchen collecting various items and began brewing tea for their resident half-demon. But instead of grabbing an old standby, Camille, he used a tea that he found her using a few months ago.

Twenty five minutes later and Beast Boy had perfectly brew tea and all without burning the tower down in the process. Before anyone could stop him he had balanced two steaming mugs of tea in one hand and was walking into the elevator. As the doors closed Robin turned to Cyborg and said, highly amused, "Cy, I bet you fifty bucks that he doesn't last twenty seconds."

"Oh no. If he makes it more than twenty seconds you have to take Star out on a date. If he doesn't last twenty seconds then I will go on a blind date." Cyborg's hand was extended toward Robin. A split second later his hand was firmly shook.

"Agreed." _Come on Beast Boy don't let me down now._ Thought Robin who was breathing easy as there was no way he would last twenty seconds.

* * *

"You do realize that they're making bets on how long you will survive, right?" She was still very tired even with ten hours of sleep. The two of them were sharing tea in her room, a rarity for them of late.

"I know but Robin is going to be surprised." His grin was innocent enough but she wasn't fooled as she felt the overwhelming waves of smugness and satisfaction coming off of him.

"Do I even want to know?"

He nodded and with a grin still plastered on his face answered without missing a beat. "I had Cy bet on me and if I lasted more the twenty seconds, Robin has to take Star out on a date."

Nearly choking on her tea she blurted out,"You didn't."

"I did. I figured it was about time the two started going out. After all nobody else here and I apologize, not even you, have to smell the pheromones coming off those two 24/7. It was beginning to drive me crazy and well you know how I like to play match maker." He took a sip of his tea.

It was a hobby of his to match make in his spare time. She was the only one of the Titans who knew about it. She gave him her word that she wouldn't tell anyone. After all he was the one that helped her and Jinx get together. It was, surprisingly, one of his better ideas; even if they grew apart a couple months later. The break up wasn't quite the disaster that both were expecting and they walked away as friends, this surprised no one.

"Get pictures for me." Her voice was toneless but she'd never been quite as able as she had been in hiding her emotional ticks from him. They'd grown closer over the last year or so. "Robin ambushed me last night. And you'll never guess what he had to say.

"I'd say your joking but that never ends well for me." He chuckled to himself before continuing, "Even I can see how much this whole dimension hopping misadventure is taking out of you. Not to mention that you have no back up and have been severely injured several times. He needs to back off and realize that you're the only person here who can keep doing this month after month. If it was me, I'd have been driven insane by now."

If she had been told that Beast Boy and her would be best friends when the Titans were formed she would've had them committed. As it was, she was grateful and caught off guard that he seemed to understand that she required down time. The kicker was that it was Beast Boy who got it the most.

"Thanks and don't worry about me, I'll be fine." She said failing to convince him that she would be. There was something that she wasn't telling him or anyone else but he knew better than to press her for information.

"Well... I used the last of that tea." She raised an eyebrow at him, she'd never admit it but a thrill ran through her as she felt his fear spike, as if to say I have a lot of tea.

"I think it was Jasmine? I'll go and get more of it for you." He gulped and was praying to any divine beings who pitied him at the moment that he wouldn't be incinerated or flayed.

_'Patience Red, this gives me a brilliant idea.' Intelligence turned to eye the Red Menace as she continued 'Things have been hectic of late and with the tea gone we have a chance to go see Iroh, which we've been unable to for a while. We will also get a reprieve from traveling to a dimension that we potentially know next to nothing about.'_

_'She does make a compelling argument Rage and you'd be hard pressed to refute that.' Her voice brought a calmness to Rage's ire._

_' **Fine I won't flay him.'** the emote hated it when their mistress was decisive and exerting her will over them._

"Um…hello earth to Raven, anybody home? I would really like to get the flaying of my green hide over with. I have other things to do today." _Like sleep before my patrol begins._ His words finally wormed their way through to her.

"As you wish." Beast Boy was a shade of green that can best be described as 'not liking my chances of surviving'. He closed his eyes waiting for the pain to start, and waited and waited. Until he opened his eyes to find himself in the organized chaos of his room holding two empty mugs of tea in each hand.

[ _For the animal's soul is mine, We will be completed right before your eyes, I have no control this time, And now we both shall dine in Hell tonight._ ]

With a start he grabbed for his communicator that was blaring Disturbed's song "The Animal" it played only when Raven sent him messages.

That tea isn't something that you can pick up for me at Teavana. I should have gone to get more of it before this whole misadventure started. Thanks for the amusement and the tea. Let the others and Robin know that I'll be asleep for a few days.

He almost did a fist pump when he read 'misadventure' but refrained and responded with,

Of course you, would have tea that's Slade level of difficult to find. Say Hi to the pink one for me and no problem.

Her lack of energy worried him. He remember the lecture that she gave to Robin about how taxing it was for her to travel between dimensions, let alone taking the team with her, back when the Justice League contacted them about the missing villains from the gallery of frozen statues who'd since been de-frosted and thrown into an, apparently, unescape-able prison.

He sighed and quickly sent a text to Robin. Once he got a confirmation back he set the empty mugs on his nightstand. He hated night patrol as it made the Beast even more difficult to reign in.

* * *

**Two days later…**

* * *

The sun was setting when she emerged onto the roof. She'd slept for two days straight and wanted to meditate before her impending talk with Robin. She'd just settled into the lotus position when she heard the doors to the roof open. "Can it wait?"

"No. The Justice League is riding me hard about the search." He said as he walked around her to stand by the railing.

"And that gives you the right to take out your frustrations on me." She heard him exhale a tired breath. A sign that she was used to him, using to convey his version of the 'I messed up but you just don't understand where I'm coming from' speech. They'd out grown the necessity of him actually saying the words a long time ago.

"Look Zatanna-"

He suddenly found himself upside down and face to face with four red eyes, " _ **So she's the one whom suggested the increase.**_ "

"She seemed to think that you were making excuses and were being awfully rigid in your unwilling-ness to do more..." He stopped talking as the coldness around his feet started rolling down his legs.

" _ **Had you mentioned her to me eight months ago I would have broke every window in the common area. But now I am reduced to reacting like this.**_ " She waved her hand in front of his face and as she did so, he started swinging like a pendulum. Her eyes lit up with malicious glee at the green tinge to his skin. " _ **My control is wavering and its wavering because traveling between dimensions is taxing on my human half. Every time I leave, I have to rely on my demonic half more and more. I've told you this already.**_ "

He could only send the feeling of knowing that to her in answer. For he was still swaying violently and the coldness was over taking his body, which made it hard for him to open his mouth. This served to be jarring enough for her to immediately let him go. "You also expressly forbid me from telling her, and by extension them, that." He said once he forced the bile in his throat down.

"She's the reason why we had to fight _**him**_ on our own." His astonishment and anger hit her full force. She started speaking before he could, she would likely have killed him if he was allowed to defend the Justice League, "When I first arrived in this dimension, I went to the Justice League and told them everything."

She turned away from his searching eyes. "I fled Azarath after _**he**_ cajoled Rage into revealing the prophecy to me. I leveled the temple of Azar and if my mother hadn't been able to calm me, _**he**_ would have ascended."

"I was scared of what I'd seen in the visions that Rage gave me. The Earth scorched and yet still burning with stone statues of its denizens frozen in the throes of agony. Flocks of ravens, a blood red starless sky and his shadow looming over me." She put a wall in between them to stop him from touching her, she couldn't handle the physical contact just then and when she saw him move back to the railing, she let the wall fade.

"I remembered the lessons on Earth that Azar gave me and while it was only in passing, she mentioned a group of powerful individuals; the Justice League. Martian Manhunter, Doctor Fate, Zatanna, Green Lantern, Superman, the Flash, and Aquaman were at the Watch Tower when I requested an audience. When they met with me, Zatanna knew of _**Trigon**_ and once they sent me out of the room; she convinced the other members that my plea for help was a ploy by _**him**_."

Her soul-self covered every inch of the the tower's roof. She tried to will it away but it was stubborn. "I felt their disgust, their hatred, and their willingness to destroy the hopes of a frightened girl who'd one day be at the mercy of a terrible demon. Zatanna is the reason why I ran out of the library that night. Why I was so closed off from you guys." _'_ _ **Why we still are.'**_ _Rage adds silently for her mistress. Knowing that she is unable to speak this truth._

As her soul-self receded from the roof a silence settled over them. Robin was reluctant to break it, not until he though over what she just dropped on him. He reasoned that she was only telling him because of how worn out she was. At this realization he took a moment to observe her; she was barely two feet in the air, her eyes had a dullness in them, her movements were listless even though she'd slept for two days straight, and she'd slept for forty eight hours solid. "Your right. I shouldn't have ambushed you like that. Take all the time you need to recharge and when the Justice League calls back, I'll tell them to stop expecting miracles when they ask for help cleaning up their messes."

"I won't be able to rest if the Justice League puts pressure on us by sending a baby sitter to the Tower." She smiled at the surge of irritation in him.

"Where else would you go? Another dimension?" At her nod, he froze, fighting with his urge to say no. But then a light when off in his head.

"Absolutely not," His smile was frightening as he continued, "without some back up. I want you to take Beast Boy with you."

"I've been to the dimension before Robin. I'll be perfectly fine." She didn't have a problem with taking Beast Boy but they both found amusement in making it seem like they both still barely tolerated each other.

"I wouldn't care if you'd been there a thousand times. This isn't up for discussion he goes with or you don't go at all." He was using his 'I dare you to argue with me' voice. The reason he was adamant about Beast Boy accompanying her, was to get him back for his underhanded tactics. He liked Starfire but he wanted to ask her out on his own and now he was feeling rushed, he didn't handled feeling rushed very well.

"He can come. But I'm warning you I will sent him back if he does anything particularly aggravating." She said through her teeth.

"When do you plan on leaving?"

"Today."

* * *

"Yo, Rae I promise that I won't be a nuisance." he said as he approached her door, attempting to drown out the snickering from Robin who was following behind him. The green titan was fighting his urge to laugh at his leader's pitiful act of revenge. _Although if me and Raven weren't on the same page I wouldn't be as relaxed._

His thoughts were cut short as the half-demon's door slid open. All that was visible of her were four red eyes. "And I will merely tolerate your presence."

Before he could blink a tendril of black snagged him around the waist and pulled him past the threshold. Once he was safely in the room, he started screaming bloody murder and she put extra effort into growling at him. Outside the door Robin was grinning at the sounds he heard. "Have a good trip you two."

Abruptly the screaming and growling gave way to side splitting laughter and an amused chuckle. It was only natural that the half-demon could speak right away.

"Its great that he picked you to join me on this vacation." She waited for his laughter to die down and his attention to be directed at her, "There are unusual animals in the dimension that we are going to. And you could learn a thing or two from said animals."

She was near overwhelmed by his curiosity but before he could rapid fire questions at her, he was forced to doge the strange bundle of clothing that she threw at him. He saw what looked like a dress in green and gold, dark brown shorts, a black belt, and black leather boots. He was distracted by the dress and therefore was unprepared to catch a green hat that bounced off of his face. He quickly scrambled to pick the hat and clothing up off the floor.

"That's your new uniform." She said and at his unspoken concerns, which she found highly amusing, she elaborated further, "I made them in my spare time." At his incredulous look she rolled her eyes. "Back when I still had time to spare. Anyways those clothes should hold up better than your normal uniform and if you need to transform they won't get destroyed. They'll help you blend in better too."

"Thanks but I'm still going to be green." He said his tone was both grateful and resigned as he walked toward her bathroom to change.

"I worked a glamour and a translation enchantment into them. So as long as you wear them, your skin will be pale, your eyes and hair will be dark green. You will also be able to understand the language spoken there." She said to his retreating back.

As soon as the door to her bathroom was closed and locked she went over to her closet, locking the door once she was inside. She walked to the back of the space and located the clothes she would wear plus the ones she was taking with. She focused on Beast Boy, making sure that he was still in her bathroom and once she was satisfied that he was still there, she changed.

The armor she was working on wasn't finished completely yet so she threw on one of her favorite band t-shirts and a pair of black cargo shorts. Unlike Beast Boy she required no help blending in; as she wasn't planning on being seen by anyone other than Iroh. Her cloak was reversible, one side was black with gold stitching on the hem and the other side of it was dark red with silver stitching; each side had the faint outline of a dragon stitched in gold and silver respectively. She preferred the black side. The clasp for the cloak was in the shape of her namesake, it too was gold and silver.

She moved over to the shelf with the finished pieces of armor and grabbed the enchanted bracers each of them concealed four knives, if never payed to be unprepared even when traveling to parts known. She decided on her steel-toe combat boots but like with the rest of her clothing she enchanted them to be near indestructible. Once properly outfitted she wistfully glanced at the unfinished armor one more time and before she could change her mind, she snapped her fingers at the work bench. The entire bench, her raw materials, the half completed chest pieces, and her dimension travel kit were sent to Nevermore. _'Its times like these that I don't mind being me.'_

 _'_ _**Are the other times really so bad?** _ _' They both knew the answer to this question._

She walked out of her closet and was surprised to see that Beast Boy was still in her bathroom. She waved the door open and saw him fidgeting with the hat so that it would sit straight on his unruly hair. With a flick of her wrist and a spark of black later the hat was straightened and when Beast Boy turned to thank her, his jaw hit the floor. "You look great Raven. Black is a good color on you, not that the blue isn't nice on you either."

"Thank you, it took me seven months to make it, your clothes, and everyone else's. Come on the others will want to see us before we leave."

* * *

"Friend Raven, what happened to the blue. The depressed feelings haven't taken you from us." It was a concerned Starfire that greet them when they entered the common area of the tower. The alien princess remembered what happened to friend Raven when she traveled into the future. It still gave her nightmares to this day.

"No the depressed feelings haven't taken me anywhere Star. I've been meaning to switch over to a new uniform for awhile now and I've out grown my old clothes anyway." The half-demon assured Star while trying not to levitate every thing that wasn't nailed down in the room as her amusement bled over to her powers.

"And where is the green one? I do not see him." She asked scanning the room for Beast Boy.

"Uh Star I'm right here." As he said that her eyes zeroed in on him and than she rushed him, to begin squeezing the air out of him.

"I'll miss you too Star. Can't breathe." He gasped out and after another second or two she released him. "The missing you is already here, Friends."

"I though your favorite color was pink, Rae." Raven narrowed her eyes at Cyborg and was contemplating how best to destroy the couch.

"I thought you were allergic to formal attire and why are you wearing your holo-ring?" She spat back ignoring the slight twitching of her mouth as she forced the dirty dishes back into the sink with care.

A smile broke out on his face and he said, "Victor Stone has a business meeting with Tokyo Electronics and Larry's Gadgets today. Both of whom have shown interest in helping a fledgling inventor get off the ground. Have fun on your vacation."

He turned back around to watch 'Pimp My Ride' on TLC.

"I will. Good luck with your meetings today Victor." she said gesturing for Beast Boy to proceed her into the elevator. Just before the door's shut Cyborg said, "And Grass Stain being in another dimension is no laughing matter, listen to Rae, and don't die."

* * *

"Can you believe him? I'm not that immature kid anymore. Why won't anyone cut me some slack?" He fumed indigently to Raven. Almost a second later he pointed at her. "You don't count."

"You're bright green, you have a purple tongue, and you've used it to pick your nose like Stitch ever since the Titans met him and Lilo." she deadpanned.

"This is very true." His response got a chuckle out of Raven.

"You set yourself up for that one."

"This is also true." They both chuckled at that but their shared amusement died quickly as the doors opened to a stern faced Robin, who was waiting for them.

"Hey you two."

Raven was instantly on alert as she picked up his apprehension. She had the distinct feeling that she wasn't about to like anything that he was going to say. And seconds later she was proven right.

"Raven listen I know this is supposed to be R&R for you. But I would like you to keep an eye out for the escaped criminals."

Before Beast Boy could open his mouth to verbally shred their leader to bits the half-demon was a step ahead of him. She used her powers to pin Robin in place as she growled. "That depends on if its just you asking or if the League is telling? And have they gotten anywhere with narrowing down who broke out?"

"No, no," If he could have moved his arms he would be attempting to wave her concerns off. "I'm just asking and they're still not sure."

_'Typical JL bullshit. Oh we can't possibly have anyone else help us identify the prisoners but were going to have you, demon spawn, go on a wild goose chase for random villains. That is until you're already neck deep in blood and bodies before we narrow down our list of suspects.' The emote was pacing back and forth as she ranted about the ineptitude of the JL._

_'Feel better?' She asked with just a touch of amusement, Intelligence hated all the posturing and jurisdiction crap that the JL was enforcing now._

_'No but you'd better let Boy Blunder apologize again. He does feel really bad for ambushing us like that.' She said smirking as her mistress sighed tiredly._

She released the grip her powers had on him and asked, "What happened while I was gone?"

He gulped apprehensively but soldiered on,"Slade appeared and he beat our asses into the ground effortlessly. When the League stepped into take him on...they gave me instructions to carry out."

Her reaction to hearing about Slade's reappearance went unnoticed by him but Beast Boy heard several of the tower's windows crack. He had to force the Beast back as he stared at Robin. Whom was obviously insane or was dosed with something as there were only two things that set Raven off, going into her room uninvited, and Slade; of which Robin was well aware.

"Why?"

Beast Boy felt the hair on the back of his neck stand on end and his throat went dry. She was using one word questions this wasn't going to be pretty. Robin seemed to noticed, at last, how what he said had affected Raven.

"Why wasn't I informed that Slade had returned? I owe him." Her eyes were red and the cracked windows from earlier shattered. At this she forced her anger back. "Maybe it was one of your better calls, to keep me uninformed about it."

There was a chill that settled into Robin's bones as she'd spoken to him. He couldn't quite hold back the shudder that traveled through him. He was unsettled by Raven and he'd not learned how she kept managing it, especially after what they'd experienced together.

"Yeah...anyways have a safe trip and stay as long as you feel is necessary." he said and then turned to address Beast Boy, "Listen to Raven and don't goof around."

Beast Boy let out an annoyed huff and was about to give Robin a piece of his mind when the tower's sirens went off.

"Duty calls. I'll see you guys when you get back." He said, right before jumping off of the roof.

"Not one word Raven." Despite the venom in his tone he had a smile on his face when he directed his attention to her. "So how exactly does this diagram help with inter dimensional travel?"

His question went unanswered as Raven was busy using her powers to inscribe demonic runes around the third largest circle that the aforementioned diagram had. He saw that the two smaller circles already had runes around them.

"Ordinarily I would use my soul-self to find holes in the integral reality mazes that keep all dimensions fully intact and separate from each other." She paused here to pull out one of her old cloaks and placed it inside the largest circle. "And the reason why I can find these holes and pass through them unharmed is because Trigon was my sire and he, himself, was an inter dimensional demon. However you're traveling with me this time. Hence the diagram; and its purpose, is to trick the reality mazes that we'll be passing through. Too see you as an inter dimensional being that is allowed to pass through the mazes."

He was surprised that she spoke easily of her father but then her tone of voice registered with him, full of self-loathing and hatred. "What would happen if you didn't use the diagram?"

"The maze for our dimension would kill you."

"It does much worse than that doesn't it?"

A nod was his answer and before he could ask her to clarify she spoke. "Go stand in the center of the circle with my cloak in it."

Once he was in the center of the circle, she stepped into the one that was interlocked with his, as she did so he noticed that the cloak she placed in his circle had been repaired with dark red thread.

"What-"

"That cloak will act as your anchor to this dimension as well as your passport through the mazes; it will also lay the groundwork for easier travel to and from where we are going. In addition if anything should happen and I decide to send you back, the diagram will transport you and anyone else back here unharmed. That's why the diagram is so big." She said in response to his curiosity.

"Dude... that's awesome."

_'Not the word I would use.'_

_'You know he means well.' The emote had developed a soft spot for Beast Boy ever since they met and from the moment he made her laugh._

_'Besides someone needs to be enthusiastic about our awesome skills.'_

_She mentally shook her head at Happy._

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos" As she said her mantra, he felt a mind numbing chill suck him into oblivion.


	4. Interesting Company

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Perhaps I should have mentioned this earlier...this will update every Tuesday.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender or Teen Titans. I own only the plots/ideas/situations that I have placed the characters in and my OCs.**

* * *

**Six Hours Later…**

* * *

The first thing that he was aware of, after he processed the assault on his senses, was how cold his body was. The second was his chattering teeth. "Sorry about the cold Beast Boy, the maze for this dimension is the same temperature as our galaxy's sun."

"No w-worries Rae and m-maybe you should c-c-call me Gar while w-were h-here. Y-You know k-k-k-keep a low p-profile among the l-l-locals." He said through his violent shivers and then promptly turned into a snow leopard. He almost immediately let out a yowl when he saw that his form wasn't green.

_'We definitely need this down time. I mean if he's more aware of secrecy and is suggesting subtlety .' The emote sounded horrified._

_'I'm too tired to deal with this.' Their conversation was interrupted when Beast Boy changed back to human form._

"I told you that those clothes would help you blend in." she said. She stepped away from him and his unadulterated joy. "And by that I meant all of you would blend in."

His emotional reaction to the simple non-greenness didn't surprise her, as she knew that he liked being green just as much as he'd first liked transforming into the Beast. It was quite the shock when he admitted that he hated the color green but he knew that someone liked how green he was.

"Thanks Rae." He gave her that happy go lucky grin that she'd never admit, out loud anyway, that she was fond of.

"Alright, so where does this Iroh guy live?" He asked, hoping that there were animals there. The prospect of seeing new animals was exciting and try as he might he couldn't hold his excitement back.

"Not far, at least if you're me." she paused to give him a sympathetic look as he realized what she meant, that they'd be traveling via teleportation. "Its best if we wait until night before entering the city. I don't have the passes for the gates and I don't want to get into it with the earthbenders."

"Earthbenders." he said. The hurt in that one word was clear as day. Whenever he heard the word Earth, it reminded him of Terra.

"Earthbenders. People in this dimension can bend the four elements; Water, Earth, Fire, and Air. We're in the Earth Kingdom, the largest of the four nations. The others are the North and South water tribes and the Fire Nation." She said hoping to pull him from the downward spiral that his emotions and thoughts were in.

"So like Hotspot and that alien Hotshot that Ben can turn into?" He asked knowing that she could tell he was grateful for the change of subject. "Wait you said four nations, what happened to the airbenders?"

"Yes like them. The four nations were at war for the last one hundred years. It started when the air nomads were killed by the fire nation; they attacked on the same day as a comet was passing through the sky, it boosted their bending tenfold. It would have been genocide but the Avatar wasn't there." She explained and was caught off guard by what he said next.

"The Avatar can bend all four elements can't they? And they were the only airbender that survived."

_'I really need to stop underestimating him.' she said to the amusement of Intelligence. Who'd already came to the conclusion that her mistress was._

_'You're only noticing this now? He went and grew up when you weren't looking. Beside how else would he know which animals would help the most in the heat of battle.' her chastising tone elicited a low hiss-like growl from Raven._

"Uh Rae, exactly how many times have you been to this dimension before?" he asked, unknowingly snapping Raven out of her thoughts. "I know that you're super smart but it seems to me like you've practically memorized the history of this dimension and the element bending stuff I'm sure, you seem to know an awful lot about it."

Try as she might she couldn't help the amused snort she let out at that. "Hardly I've only ever spent two days here at any given time. But during those days I would raid Iroh's library while he served his costumers. I have the bare bones of the bending arts and the one hundred year war."

"I get the feeling that you'll spent most of your time reading." he said quietly as he started taking in the surrounding area. He was just realizing that they were in a cave when he picked up a strange growling-snarl. The sound was faint, telling him that the animal that made it wasn't too close to their position.

"It is my vacation and I do enjoy reading." When he returned his attention to her, he saw that at some point she had sat on one of the many rocks inside the cave. Her eyes were closed and she was leaning back against the cave's wall. Upon seeing that she was relaxing for perhaps the first time since the JL assigned them the task of finding the dimension hoppers. He started fidgeting, his curiosity, excitement, and his concern for his friend were at war in his head.

"Just ask Gar." her voice halted his fidgeting and finally he asked, noting that she was still in the same position as before, "Did you hear that? The snarl?"

"I think it was a saber-tooth mouse lion. Iroh said they frequented the region and I have yet to see one." At hearing her answer he was a bit disappointed but he reasoned that there would be time enough to see one while they were here. But his curiosity was really intense, because of all the cats that he could turn into, and something from earlier had raised a few questions.

"So is the war with the Fire Nation over? Like for good?" his questions were fair ones. Even in a world that was post-war, tensions would run high for years afterwards towards the aggressors.

"In this dimension time runs differently than in ours, for example. Two years here would translate to one year back home." She fell silent for a moment letting him turn that over in his head before continuing so as to answer his original questions, "Iroh told me via the communicator that I left with him, that the avatar ended the war a month before my father attempted to destroy the universe; six years ago. But three years our time."

"Whoa, wait, this is where you went after the mission with the Tots." He said but then something didn't make sense because she'd only been gone for half a day it seemed.

"Because of what I am, time is just another dimension that I can traverse." She said as she felt his confusion. Shaking his head he flashed a grin in her direction, "That is so cool."

"Some days." She said. What she didn't add was that one day she'd have to watch her friends get older and die, as she most likely never would. The very little amount of research that she could stomach about half-demon's said as much, but she interpreted it as: half-demons are abominations against nature and therefore are cursed with immortality.

"Its dark enough to risk going into the city now." She turned to pin him with a stare as an amused grin spread across her face. "Ready?"

His only response was to gulp audibly as the familiar chill washed over him and everything went dark.

* * *

They emerged from the shadows onto a fairly tall building with the head of an enormous gold dragon that had a sign dangling from its mouth jutting out over the space between the buildings. The walkway below was wide and opposite the dragon's head, there was a blacksmiths shop. In fact the whole area was a shopping district of some sort.

The roof was flat unlike most of the other buildings that could be seen which had slanted roofs with smooth tiles, promising a painful trip to the ground far below.

"Raven are you sure its a good idea to be in a shopping district and especially this late at night?" he asked, the nervousness in his voice wasn't hard to miss. His instincts were going haywire screaming that this dimension was dangerous. Way more dangerous than back home because of the whole people who can bend the elements thing. _'We are outnumbered here. Be careful and heed the demon.' The deep tone to the Beast's speech was still something he was getting use to. But he nodded._

"Oh come on where's your sense of adventure?" Her replied only served to ratchet up his unease. "Gar, it will be fine. There is no way the Dai Lee will be able to spot us, all they will see is shadows. But they are ruthless and have more stealth skills than Robin and Kyd Wykkyd combined."

When nothing else was said by him for several moments, she returned her attention to the city; one that she never had the time to taken in before.

It was divided into three, three ring sections; Lower, Middle and Upper. The different sections denoted the different classes of citizens. Poor, not as poor, and filthy rich. There was of course the giant outer wall that enclosed the city, protecting it from attack. Ba Sing Sei reminded her of China but the wall builder of Ba Sing Sei was a powerful earthbender and they finished building it in four years.

According to the stories that Iroh had shared with her about the Earth Kingdom's history and what little information she found in his library; the earthbender's name was Cheng. He'd grown tired of living in the vast crystal catacombs beneath the city, he went to the surface one day and just started building a wall; it wasn't long before people started coming to settle within the ring of stone as it became a safe haven from bandits.

"What's Iroh like?" He whispered in a low voice.

Her eyes never left the city as she answered, keeping her voice low. "He's the one who found me when I crash landed here. The very same night of the old library fiasco with Slade. He also knows his way around a tea pot like Robin does a coffee pot."

The night she spoke of was one of several taboo subjects that none of her teammates dared to dredge up, unless she did so first. "They were still visible, the runes. He helped me, a complete stranger with what could have been blood on her skin and he wasn't afraid of me. Not even after I told him about **Trigon**."

She took a few deep and calming breaths as she continued, "I figured what's one more person who knows, its not like he's going to tell anyone. And ever since my first trip here, he's been like...an uncle to me."

He didn't need to be an empath to feel the sadness and hurt in those seven words. Wordlessly he nodded, not knowing what to say. He was still uneasy around her when she told him stuff like this. The silence was awkward and it stretched on and on.

"Well I'm glad you met him then." He said after some time had passed.

"I almost forgot. You remember when Jinx started that prank war?" A timid nod was the only response from Gar.

"Do you also remember what happened when she cleaned your room and you came running to mine in a panic, thinking that someone boosted all your stuff?" His response this time was a glare, that said 'just get to the point'.

"What you don't know is that she told me what she was going to do the day before. But the look on your face was priceless and I couldn't help myself. You were worried the whole tower would come down on top of us or explode." His glare turned into a confused frown as he recalled that day. Even as he tried to get her to stop laughing, it took him a couple minutes before he saw half of the books in her room floating in the air, harmlessly. When he asked her about it, she said that she'd give him an explanation one day.

For a moment she was unsure of his reaction but his face broke into a wide grin as he said, "Now I'm really glad that you met him."

She only had a split second to brace herself before he glomped her with enough force to give Starfire's brand of hugs a run for their money. She allowed him to hug her for a few seconds longer. Then he was gently pulled back from her by a shadowy hand.

"Still the same old Raven." he whispered in their 'stealth missions' tone of voice. She was the only one of the team besides Cyborg who could hear it. Or so the two of them thought.

* * *

The blind general was tired and cursing her bad luck. She'd been summoned by King Kuei and he dumped a bunch of lackluster recruits onto her. Then he informed her of her promotion to General and that she was to whip those recruits into some semblance of competent.

That was two weeks ago and the earthbenders among them were still learning the basics of earthbending. The non-bending recruits at least gave her a challenge during training. As of yesterday morning's training session, it would be three weeks before she could get back to stabilizing the United Republic and policing the bandits that were located near the new borders on either side.

_Why the hell did I let Avatar Twinkle Toes and lord Sparky talk me into this?_

_Okay Toph only two more years of training Twinkle Toes and then you'll be free to focus on expanding the tunnels...and founding that metalbending academy._

A jolt went through the blind general as she was torn from her thoughts. Her ears had twitched and she felt a shift in the night's air currents. It was faint but she picked up the sound of two heart beats. Her dull green eyes widened when she realized that the potential threats were closing in on the shopping district. Immediately she tapped one of her feet on the ground trying to get an exact location. Her scan of the area turned up nothing.

_Are they flying...I thought that Twinkle Toes was the only airbender left?_ She decided to follow who ever it was as best as she could. Her focus was so intense on the pursuit, that she froze mid-step when her earth sense picked up the vibrations coming from the two people that were just there all of a sudden. But there was no mistaking the two human shapes on the roof of Iroh's tea shop.

She readied to launch an attack at the first sign of shenanigans. Her patience was rewarded a second later.

"Raven are you sure its a good idea to be in a shopping district and especially this late at night?"

_Hm...with nerves like his, he won't be much trouble if they attempt to rob uncle's shop._

"Oh come on, where's your sense of adventure?"

_Is that...? No I haven't seen Sunshine since lord Sparky's coronation. Huh I wonder were she got a weird name like Raven from._

"Gar it will be fine. There is no way the Dai Lee will be able to spot us, all they will see is shadows. But they are ruthless and have more stealth skill than Robin and Kyd Wykkyd combined."

_Wha ...what does she mean all they'll see are shadows? And I'd really like to see Robin and Kyd Wykkyd get past me, who ever they are._

The silence that followed was perhaps the longest that the blind general had ever experienced in her life. When they did start talking again she could barely make out what they were saying.

"What's Iroh like?"

_How does this Raven woman know uncle? This should be interesting._ A huge smirk showed off the blind general's teeth as she listened to the girl's response.

"He's the one who found me when I crash landed here. The very same night of the old library fiasco with Slade. He also knows his way around a tea pot like Robin does a coffee pot.

_Crash landed? Old library? Slade?_ As she'd heard the word library, a shudder passed through her. _Note to self all libraries are bad for your health. Yeah that's uncle alright, he could brew tea in his sleep._

"They were still visible, the runes. He helped me, a complete stranger with what could have been blood on her skin and he wasn't afraid of me. Not even after I told him about **Trigon**."

The blind general recoiled as a chill traveled the length of her spine. She hadn't though it was possible to find a person scarier than Azula, Ozai, and Koh the face stealer combined, but she had. She felt the malice like she felt the dirt on her skin and it gripped her so hard that she was starting to get dizzy from lack of breath.

She took a deep breath and exhaled, still trembling. She wanted to find the nearest bed to hide under. But she couldn't move her feet, its like they were fused with the ground.

"I figured what's one more person who knows, its not like he's going to tell anyone. And ever since my first trip here, he's been like...an uncle to me."

_Knows what exactly...and first trip? I can relate to that, sometimes I wish Iroh was my uncle too._

"Well I'm glad you met him then."

_Most people are._ She fondly remembered her first encounter with Iroh. She never told the rest of the gAang about it until lord Sparky's crazy sister kidnapped Sugar Queen and then Iroh showed up asking for their help.

"I almost forgot. You remember when Jinx started that prank war?"

_Where is she going with this? Although this Jinx person sounds like a hell of a lot of fun. A prank war? I wish I would've though of that when I was still traveling around with everyone._

"Do you also remember what happened when she cleaned your room and you came running to mine in a panic, thinking that someone boosted all your stuff?"

_Now I really do want to meet this Jinx person._

"What you don't know is that she told me what she was going to do the day before. But the look on your face was priceless and I couldn't help myself. You were worried the whole tower would come down on top of us or explode."

All of the color drained from her face as she heard the word explode. _Not a firebender. Please not a firebender. She can't be a firebender. If she is, then she'd be way stronger than Azula...or Twinkle Toes avatar state or not._

"Now I'm really glad you met him."

_Wait did I miss something?_ To her astonishment she felt Gar rush towards Raven, and hug her. A couple of seconds later and she felt the air temperature drop a little and heard the distortion as an unseen force pulled Gar back.

"Still the same old Raven."

_I'd hate to meet the new Raven. But still these two...they bear keeping an eye on. I so don't want another issue to deal with._

Raven held up a hand to forestall any more conversation from Gar and placed her hand beneath her chin. Gar nodded.

_'There's someone listening to us nearby. Transform into something small and brace for the Raven express. Blink once when your ready.'_

He blinked.

* * *

When they reappeared inside the Jasmine Dragon's backroom,

_'Don't transform back yet. The person is trying to find us and it won't be long before they do. I think they're a bender and our best bet is to remain off the ground. I'll make a platform for you.' Her voice was getting weaker and weaker, traveling to this dimension and subsequently to their destination had taken a lot out of her._

The gray mouse in her left hand winked at her in answer. She waved her right hand and a small black disc appeared next to the hand holding the mouse. She watched in the pitch black room as Gar made himself at home on the disc and drifted off to sleep.

Gar was a sight to be hold when he slept, not that she would admit to observing him when he'd fall asleep on the couch occasionally; but she did. Chances were that depending on his dreams or nightmares, he would transform into different animals. She'd learned how to determine what kind of dream he was having by the animals he changed into. She found him on the couch one fateful night, he'd transformed into the Beast.

The powerful emotions he was experiencing, unfortunately, dragged her soul-self into his nightmare. It was a kaleidoscope of images and sounds, there was screaming, smoke, heat, and horrible laughter. She'd caught glimpses of Terra turning to stone and of Slade holding a puppet replica of Terra; Slade had scissors in one hand and as he'd cut the first string the whole puppet was ablaze.

That was the night that ultimately led to her attempting to be less harsh to him. But only enough where he wouldn't notice her change in behavior. This led to her discovering that there was more than meets the eye, concerning one Garfield Logan. His goofing around all the time was a front to lull the criminals they fought into a false sense of security as well as to suppress the instincts of the animals he turned into; so that he didn't act on those instincts. He was a walking animal encyclopedia and he rescued animals in his spare time.

_'If we weren't an empath. He'd be great boyfriend material...' Intelligence trailed off, lamenting the missed opportunity._

_'Among other things. And according to polite society we're mentally unstable and prone to violence.' This was difficult subject matter for them to discuss, made even worse by their empathy._

_The emote nodded sadly, the discovery of their sexual orientation hadn't been pleasant or easy to accept. Not only were they already a half-demon but also bi. They had to go for broke in all freak categories it seemed. What was worse than that was Rage telling them that Beast Boy would never be acceptable dating material; not ever. Naturally they'd both asked for an explanation and the one they received was shocking to say the least; they were fond of Beast Boy._

_Rage's reason was simple they would feel the instincts of all the predators that he could transform into. Not only would that fuel Rage and allow her to more easily over power their mistress but it could lead to more disastrous consequences. As they had learned that Beast Boy has to suppress the instincts of the animals near constantly and if they were around him for extremely long periods of time, they would begin to act on their instincts and demons had powerful instincts._

_Their instincts included but weren't limited too, uncontrollable violent outbursts, the urge to conquer the known dimensions, the absorption and redistribution of anger and hatred, and lastly turning the Earth into her own personal Nevermore._

_'We could pretend to be his girlfriend. That is, if he ever found the courage to ask.' Laughter greeted this statement and the source of it was revealed to be Happy as she appeared in Intelligence's library, lounging midair._

_'Can you imagine Cyborg's face if we did that when we go back?'_

_The three of them shared a grin as they could, in fact, imagine the look on his face._

"I see that you've been practicing. And its good to see you Raven, I was worried you'd never come back; after you rushed off during your last visit." As she turned to face the speaker, the various objects that'd been floating through the air crashed to the ground.

"As you can see, I still need more practice." she said as she waved her hand, picking up, repairing, and resettling the objects that'd been scattered across the ground.

He let out a hearty chuckle at her response. With a smile still on his face he asked, "Another 'Smash and Grab'?"

"Actually we're here on vacation; Robin crossed a line." She felt a wave of emotions from Iroh. But they were too brief for her to get an accurate read of them all.

"And since not very many of the people who I work with can easily travel, like I can; I figured why not stay here and finally sight see like I've been meaning to." She finished with a small grin while trying to wake the sleeping mouse up without drawing attention to it.

"That's good to hear and there is much to see. But first a cup of tea." With that said he moved around the cozy backroom, that she was very familiar with, to prepare a pot of tea for them. Once Iroh had turned his back to her, she prodded Gar a little too hard with her powers, "Wake up."

Gar let out a squeak of surprise and still half asleep he rolled off the platform. He flipped once during his downward plunge and landed on all fours in human form. The squeak had drawn Iroh's attention. He was astonished at the sight of a small creature turning into a human, so much that he dropped the tray with the tea that he'd been about to set on a table. The half-demon waved her hand and the tray was airborne a moment later, it hovered in the air about a foot above the aforementioned table.

"Iroh allow me to introduce Garfield, Gar for short. He's a good friend of mine and here on Robin's orders; back up in case a situation arises." She said while setting the tea tray down on the table with care and as she directed the tea pot to fill four cups, instead of three, she finished, "And Gar, this is General Iroh, Dragon of the West."

Gar instantly stood, back ramrod straight, and saluted Iroh. "Very pleased to meet you sir."

"There's no need for that young man, I'm retired. Its just Iroh." He said while gesturing for Gar to take a seat at the table.

Before anyone could move, the back door to the shop flew open and in rushed a blind earthbender who placed herself between Iroh and the two Titans. As soon as she was in position the earthbender hit the ground with her foot and had two rocks hovering in the air. "Uncle very interesting company you keep these days. Any reason why I shouldn't do something drastic."

Though she'd done a good job at holding back any outward signs of fear, the blind general wasn't liking her chances with a powerful firebender who frightened her, much as she hated to admit it, and an unknown non-bender.

"There is no need for drastic measures Toph. They're friends from very far away." Iroh's voice was filled with mirth.

Shrugging the blind general let the two stones fall to the ground, they hit with a resounding thud, and then bent them back in place. "Whatever you say Uncle."

Without missing a beat she turned her attention to Gar and asked, "Does my earthbending frighten you or something, Goofball?"

"It isn't fright that he feels." Her tone held no trace of emotion but the blind general's hearing was better than most, there was sadness and bitterness there. And for once the blind general had nothing to say. Nor did she think there was anything she could have said. After a moment she said, "Name's Toph greatest earthbender in the world. Nice to meet friends of Uncle's. But really who are you guys, I overheard you talking on the roof earlier."

The two Titans were immediately alert and focused on Toph as she wasn't finished , "I pegged you, Nightmare for Fire Nation and the Goofball for well, I don't know but I felt him turn into a strange critter of some kind."

Gar risked a glance at Raven and was surprised to see his friend relaxing, it was rare that Raven liked new people from the off. "You must be Toph Bei Fong, the blind bandit, the Runaway, and the creator of metalbending."

"Blind?"

"How did you know that?"

"Why don't we all sit and talk over tea." Iroh suggested once he sensed that the tension had diffused entirely.

When everyone had settled at the table by the back door and had a cup of tea in front of them. Toph had just opened her mouth to ask her questions again when she was interrupted by Raven. "To your first question, Gar and I are not from any of the four nations and we aren't benders either. We do, however, possess abilities that are similar to bending, in the sense that a normal person would have a difficult time fighting against us."

Toph nodded and sipped her tea while thinking over what she'd heard so far. "What abou-"

Again she was interrupted, "I read up on the history of the Fire Nation and the one hundred year war. You were instrumental in ending the war and Iroh has been very patient with my questions about the Bending Arts, needless to say; he's mentioned you and your friends."

"That's all well and good but not what I was go-"

"My powers are influenced by my emotions, positive and negative. Before I met Iroh, my powers would lash out and destroy things regardless of the emotion I was expressing at the time. But now that only happens when I'm angry." As Raven fell silent the blind general took a deep breath and let it out, trying to put a lid on her annoyance at being interrupted.

"Its like your reading my mind." Toph said and waited for a pace for either of the two Titans to contradict her words.

"Rae's not reading your mind. She's can feel your emotions and don't worry, you'll get use to it." Gar said breaking the silence as he slid his cup of tea toward his teammate.

"Alright what about you? What can you do?" Toph asked of him as she relaxed into her chair and bent a foot stool out of the ground.

"I turn into animals." Toph wouldn't have believed him, if not for the matter of fact tone that he spoke with and what she'd 'seen' him do on the roof.

"For real? I wonder if you turned into a badger-mole, if you could earthbend..." Unbeknownst to Toph her musings had the two Titans sharing startled looks.

Gar was the first to recover and said, "I don't believe for a second that your blind."

"I think you and I are going to be good friends Goofball." She said and then she pointed directly at Raven, "And you as well Nightmare."

Gar was curious about something that Raven had said about Toph helping to end a war. "So how exactly did you help end a one hundred year war?"

"Well it all started when I helped Avatar Twinkle Toes out of a tricky situation."

_'Do you think Iroh's finally going to tell us about whats been bothering him?' Intelligence placed one last book on the shelf before answering._

_'I don't know. But he was very happy to hear that we are here for an extended period of time.' At this, unpleasant memories surfaced for both Intelligence and her mistress; it'd been the first time the two had ever been at odds._

_'I never did apologize for that.' her words echoed throughout the library._

_'Mistress you don't-' The emote was cut off as a transparent manifestation of their mistress appeared._

_'I have to.' She was hesitant to speak further because they both shared a deep rooted aversion to what they were or so Raven thought. 'I've never accepted what I am. And you knew our elemental magics are demonic in origin. When you wanted to grill Iroh about firebending in order to better understand and hopefully control them. I felt like you were beginning to accept our demonic nature and if you were starting to, then so would I.'_

_'Aw mistress if you were actually here, I'd give you a hug. But you aren't so...I'll just have to give you two when you are.'_

_Several dozen bookshelves imploded causing bits and pieces of black wood, shreds of paper, and books to rain down on them. 'Candy!'_

_'Did you want your hugs now or later Madam Snark?' Intelligence's answer was drowned out as Raven's attention returned to Iroh's shop._

"So Rae can I?" She turned her head in his direction with a far away look in her eyes.

"Help Toph's unit with the bandits plaguing the earth kingdom's western border." He said when he realized where Raven had gone to, for who knows how long.

"Its not like we have bandits at home that we can thrash." At both Gar and Toph's strange looks she said, "That means yes."

As the two began to talk strategy she tuned them out once more and directed her attention to Iroh, who'd been sipping his tea silently. "Iroh from the moment we met I've always felt conflicting emotions from you. And when you heard that I would be staying here for an undisclosed amount of time; you were extremely happy. Why is that?"

Iroh was relieved that she'd asked him that, it saved him from trying and failing to figure out how to ask for her help.

"Do you remember the train that you saw when you first came here?" He waited for her to nod before continuing, "It marked the beginning of the end for my niece's sanity. At the end of the war her mind snapped completely and her brother only made matters worse when he sent her to Crescent Isles; its where the Fire Nation sends its most mentally unstable criminals and citizens."

A sharp crack echoed throughout the room drawing the attention of everyone to the blind general. Toph's eyes seemed to bore into Iroh's. "Uncle. Please tell me you're not asking her to help Azula."

"I am. I don't condone the things she's done but she wouldn't have done them if her family hadn't abandoned her to her father." He took a few shaky breaths while trying to rid his mind of the nightmares and visions that he saw regularly. "I promised Ursa, Zuko and Azula's mother, that I would watch out for her daughter and I've failed. I will not leave my niece to rot in the worst asylum in the Fire Nation. All because her brother believes that she'll get better there; she won't."

"Lord Sparky and Sugar Queen won't be happy about this."

"Zuko threatened to lock me up, if I ever attempted to interfere with Azula's treatment. But I'm long past caring she's had no one on her side for so long and now, I'm all she has." Toph was taken aback at the conviction and venom in his voice as he defended Azula.

"Uncle, I said Zuko and Katara wouldn't be happy about this. Frankly I always thought Lord Sparky was over dramatic when it concerned his sister and I have a healthy respect for the Firefly, she never held back when she's fought with me. I can't say the same for other people." Toph said hoping to reassure Iroh that she wasn't against him. "Defenseless blind girl..." She muttered under her breath a moment later.

"You know Toph, Rae and I know someone whose blind and kicks ass. His name is Daredevil." Gar said making sure to express the grin on his face in his tone of voice.

"Keep talking."

As those two started talking once more, Raven said, "Your nephew, I haven't met him yet and I already dislike him."

Her statement was emphasized as every piece of breakable cutlery rattled violently. A second later and the rattling stopped. "However I intend to repay you for the kindness you've shown me, Iroh. I will help your niece in any way that I can."


	5. The Dragon Woman

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tomorrow I will be attending a concert and I won't be able to post your regularly scheduled update... so you get it today.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender or Teen Titans. I own only the plots/ideas/situations that I have placed the characters in and my OCs.**

* * *

Katara didn't quite know what to make of the two strange people that Toph introduced her and Aang to as soon as they landed in the Jasmine Dragon's back garden. This had been three days ago and not for the first time she wishes that they'd said no. It certainly didn't help that Raven reminded the waterbender of Azula, then the waterbender was immediately suspicious of Raven after hearing that she agreed to help Azula at Iroh's behest.

The bad memories that she associated with the insane princess were still fresh in her mind, even though it'd been a few years since the war ended. And despite her best efforts, she couldn't bring herself to forgive Azula for trying to kill them all.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos" Raven's endless chanting of these unusual words woke Katara.

She briefly contemplated going back to sleep until the sight of Raven levitating four feet off the ground, registered in her state of semi-consciousness. _How is she doing that? Aang can't float like that. What is she? What do those words mean?_ These were just a few of the questions running through her mind as she passed by Raven to get a head start on breakfast; not to mention that it was one of the few foolproof ways of getting Toph out of bed before noon, the promise of food.

"I was born with the ability to levitate and I could be called an energy bender, Katara. Azarath is the place I was born, Metrion is that which dwells within, and Zinthos signifies strength of will." Raven said, stopping the waterbender in her tracks.

Katara turned to face the strange woman with a horrified look on her face, before shouting, "You can read minds?!"

"No. She can't." Katara's attention was drawn to Raven's right as Gar seemed to appear out of thin air. "But she can feel and decipher emotions like she's reading a book."

"How is that even possible?" Aang was very curious about the two strangers, he and Katara didn't quite see eye to eye on the issue.

"How is it even possible for you, Katara, Toph, Iroh and thousands of other people to bend the elements? I was born with the ability." With that said, she turned away from the small gathering and went back to meditating. "Azarath Metrion Zinthos."

"Bu-" Aang was interrupted as Gar stepped in front of him, blocking his view of Raven.

"Dude, trust me when I say this, whatever questions you have they can wait."

A small smile tugged at the corner of her mouth at hearing Gar say that. It was kind of shocking to her about how much he'd listened to her over the years. She recalled that particular conversation about her daily meditation; it involved lots of broken glass and threats to drag him into the underworld.

_'Can I help you?' she sighed, officially giving up on her morning meditation session._

_'We know virtually nothing about Azula. Other than what we could get out of Toph and the little that Iroh knew. Aren't you a little concerned about this?' Intelligence fired back with a question of her own._

_'I've already asked Aang and Katara. Neither of whom had anything other than 'she's evil' to say about her.' Her answer was less than satisfactory to Intelligence and upon sensing this Raven asked, 'Do you know of anyone else here that we could pump for more information?'_

_'I'll concede that point but what about her friends, surely they could give us Azula's side of the story. I'm just asking you to consider tracking down someone who wouldn't just give us: she's bad, end of story. All we've got to go on is how 'evil she was'.' Intelligence could charm a cow out of its calf when she exerted the effort._

_'Very well. I should have remembered not to bother arguing with you. Because we both know who's going to win.' Compared to other instances, Intelligence had never experienced her mistress give in this easily to her demands before._

_'Don't get use to it.' Raven said just as she was dragged from the conversation by a messenger hawk landing near where she was meditating._

The red hawk was flapping its wings and screeching nonstop to get attention and it succeeded. Before either Aang or Katara, whom recognized Hawky, could move Gar was already next to him. With exception of Raven, this wasn't new for her, jaws hit the ground as Gar seemed to have a conversation with the hawk.

'Calm down.' His tone was harsh and sharp. The effect was immediate as Hawky stopped screeching needlessly and snapped back, 'I have an urgent message for Katara and Avatar Aang. Kyoshi island is being ransacked by pirates.'

Not missing a beat Gar said, "Kyoshi island is being attacked by pirates."

The moment that he'd said Kyoshi was being attacked, Aang wasted no time grabbing his glider. Just as he launched into the air, the avatar started issuing orders but only managed, "Katara-"

"Go, we'll be right behind you." She said, watching as he soared over the waters of the cove, where they'd made camp the night before.

As she moved towards Appa's head, she saw a flash of black and gold. When she turned her head, she was stunned by what she was seeing, both Raven and Gar had shot off like lightning after Aang. When Gar had reached the water he dived head first into it and as he hit the water's surface transformed into a creature of some kind. Raven on the other hand was airborne and was already little more than a faint speck on the horizon.

"Oh Sugar Queen, I forgot to mention that Nightmare can fly and the Goofball turns into weird animals. My bad." Try as she might the blind earthbender couldn't contain the smirk that spread across her face.

Through grit teeth Katara demanded, "Anything else you forgot to mention?"

Toph's only response was an even wider grin. Which quickly disappeared when Katara snapped out an urgent, and in Toph's mind the worst two words in the world, "Yip, Yip."

Midway through his hasty and poorly planned flight Aang heard something gaining on him. _That can't be Appa and the others. Toph did mention that Raven and Gar are like benders but not.._

Rather than allow his mind to go in circles trying to figure out what was following him, he risked a glance back. His eyes nearly popped out of his skull as he saw Raven closing the distance between them.

Once she was level with him, him having not taken his eyes off of her approach, she said, "If I keep going in this direction will the first thing I see be Kyoshi Island?"

He nodded at her and his mouth hung open as she changed into a shadowy bird, that sliced through that air like a knife through butter. He attempted to increase his speed to match her but a muted flash of silver from below drew his gaze, he was further astounded at seeing the sea creature shift into another one, matching Raven's speed. _Who are these people?  
_

* * *

**Kyoshi Island; Sunrise  
**

* * *

It was officially fall in the Earth Kingdom as the morning air would have easily chilled her to the bone, if she'd not been doing her required once daily run. Unlike most of her fellow warriors she preferred to run in the morning rather than at night. Plus she loved watching the sunrise from Suki's front porch. Her house had one of the best views of the bay. _I wonder what Suki wants to talk about. She seemed awfully nervous when she asked me if I was doing anything on my day off yesterday._

Shaking her head of these thoughts Chaz Zu easily crested the hill and to her surprised there was Suki, standing by the railing on her porch with two steaming cups of tea. As she drew closer to her leader and her closest friend, she waved.

When she finally reached the house a steaming cup of tea was her friend's way of greeting, which in Chaz Zu's opinion was the best kind of greeting. "How can you possibly run in that?"

She flashed Suki a grin by way of answer before sipping the Dartsti tea, a specialty blend of tea from the Fire Nation. According to Ty Lee it was how her mother's family got rich. The tea was designed to help soothe muscle aches and joint pains. When you blended it with Blackthorns it had a kick to it that helped the drinker's mind to wake up. "Its very breathable and its like a second skin, after I hit my stride I barely even notice the cold. I need to thank Ty for recommending something like this."

They fell silent at that and directed their attention to the sky above the bay, where the sky was beginning to shift from night to day. The last couple of months had been relatively peaceful for Kyoshi. But the festival was just around the corner and the two island born residents knew how hectic the island would get.

"Has Ty found a permanent place to settle yet?" She figured that this was a safe topic, seeing as how the last person who brought up Sokka was assigned to take care of the Unagi for six months.

"She has." The stiff tone and rigidity of Suki's body language, alarmed Chaz Zu. She set her empty tea cup on the railing and focused her full attention on Suki.

"Is there something you're not telling me?" She can see that the question has had a visible effect on her friend, Suki starts fidgeting.

"Its difficult to put into words and the elders will likely try to remove me as leader, if they find out." Suki was never one to sugar coat anything.

She was taken aback by this. _What could be so bad that the elders-?_

Her mind went into over drive as it connected the dots. Taking a deep breath and exhaling, she said, "You know Kyoshi's laws as well as I do. You've met this one in particular. I'd love to see the elders try to remove you. And I know for a fact that none of the girls will be bothered."

In the silence that greeted her words she watched as the tension in Suki drained away into nothing. A moment later and she found herself being squeezed to death. "If Ty hurts you, I'll kick her ass to the spirit world and back."

"Thanks, Zu. I don't know what I'd do if you weren't my friend." As Suki pulled away from her, she inwardly frowned. _I hate that you worried over my reaction Suki. But I can hardly blame you, after all its society's fault that you're like this. Afraid to live true to yourself for fear of being ridiculed, shunned, and or killed._

Before Chaz Zu could say anything further the sun set the water ablaze and glinted off the hull of a Fire Nation Destroyer. Suki wasted no time as she switch from friend to leader.

"Zu rally the girls and gear up." She was torn, normally she'd never question Suki at a time like this but she couldn't help herself from asking, but before she could get a word out, Suki said, "Sokka let me know that the twins and himself made it to the United Republic safely, he also informed me that Aang and Katara would be traveling back to Ba Sing Sei from the southern air temple."

With that Zu nodded and shot off down the hill and headed toward the dojo, hoping against hope that at least some of the girls would be there for Ty Lee's chi blocking technique training. She was already too far away from the house to hear Suki calling for Hawky.

* * *

The pirates had somehow managed to bypass the Unagi and the lookouts unseen and had sent skiffs to shore with hundreds of pirates. And just as the first of the boats reached shore, the ship's catapults rained fireballs down on the village, setting half of the buildings on fire. The marauding pirates dragged villagers from their homes as smoke and countless indistinguishable pleas for help filled the morning air. A blur of black and red dance through the chaos. Twisting and turning around, by, and or above the enemy. When a strike landed, the pirate fell crashing painfully to the ground and paralyzed from the waist down.

She'd been in the middle of her introduction to chi blocking when Chaz Zu came running in telling them an attack on the village was imminent and rather than wait for orders, she took off for the bay. She reasoned that the others would follow as soon as they could. Now she was one of the few Kyoshi warriors that was still standing and the only one without a single scratch on her.

Normally an attack force this size would be no problem for them but that was before the airships arrived shortly after the first wave landed on the beach and dropped more pirates into the village. This particular warrior wasn't phased by the overwhelming numbers, losing one's fear in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds happened quickly when sparring with Princess Azula. Upon seeing even more pirates coming into the village she just willed her body to move faster.

She'd just saved Kan and Kai from four pirates when she heard a heart stopping bellow cut across the battlefield. She wasted no time and took off in the opposite direction of the sound, hoping to find the others. Her search was in vain as they were all spread too thin over the village. _There's only one way forward._

With her course of action set she headed toward what could be certain death. It take didn't long for her to reach the village square and as soon as she did, she used a little known talent of hers; she imitated the cry of a injured baby calf.

 _The rhinoceros boar was unstoppable once enraged and as destructive as a saber-tooth mouse lion searching for a lost cub. Its razor sharp ten inch tusks jutted out of a square mouth and had two six inch horns on their wide snouts, that can impale the tough hide of catgators. Both male and female rhino-boars were ill-tempered and highly protective of their young. Many young and inexperience Fire Nation hunters were discourage from hunting them alone._ All of this was at the forefront of her mind as fifteen rhino-boar riding pirates tore into the village square heading straight for her. Right as the rampaging rhino-boars reached her she jumped into the air and paralyzed four riders, their mounts shortly followed.

Both Suki and Chaz Zu stood in shock as Ty Lee danced among the rhino-boars, knocking pirates from their backs and dropping the ferocious animals to the ground. Suki's heart beat was just starting to slow when one of the riders pulled the reins on his mount to the left, causing the rhino-boar's head to sweep from side to side. This forced Ty Lee to doge to the right and she landed in the path of another rhino-boar. She barely managed to chart wheel out of harm's way. As she came to her feet, a jolt of pain shot through her left leg. A single grunt of pain escaped her, displaying very little about how much the wound hurt, and then she collapsed.

Merciless laughter rang through the air as the last six riders charged the downed warrior as she tried to stand. Time passed in agonizing slowness as Suki and Chaz Zu forced their already tortured bodies to run. They both realized at the same time that they couldn't do anything. Neither was able to look away as the distance between Ty Lee and the rhino-boars was eaten up.

"NO!" At Suki's heart rending cry, the impossible happened, all six rhino-boars were thrown back. A wall of black ink surrounded the area where Ty Lee had fallen. The two warriors blinked and when the wall remained, they were knocked off their feet by an unnaturally cold force as a battle axe sailed above their heads.

Disoriented Suki and Chaz Zu shook their heads to clear them and looked up to see a woman in a black and gold cloak. The cloak's hood hid half of the woman's face from view but what held their attention was her white glowing eyes and her hands, suffused with the inky substance; that'd saved their lives. "See to your friend. I will handle the rest of them."

Suki did a double take after the woman had spoken to be sure that that hadn't been the fire lady. Her jaw hung open as she watch the cloaked woman fly out of the square, pursuing the now fleeing rhino-boars and their riders.

She was then pulled to the right by Chaz Zu as a knife was thrown at her by a soot covered marauder. Chaz Zu rushed him. "Oh fuck no. Better start running asshole."

Suki felt herself being shoved to the side once more and as she rolled to a stop on the ground, what she saw drained the color from her face. Ty Lee had been impaled by two short swords and the only thing visible was the tip of one sword protruding from her abdomen; the other sword's hilt was fit snugly against her chest, just below her heart. Blood poured out of her mouth as both marauders pulled their weapons out, laughing coldly. She fell to her knees first, hands clutching the wound on her stomach and as one of the marauders passed by her, she fell onto her side hitting the earth with a final sounding thud.

Their laughter turned Suki's vision red as she launched herself toward the discarded battle axe from earlier. Her knuckles were white as she gripped it and in one smooth motion she rose from the ground to face the advancing marauders.

* * *

A plume of smoke, ash, and sparks shot into the air as the behemoth of a man was thrown through a burning house. There were splinters and cuts covering his face as he'd been thrown through many walls ever since he encountered the cloaked monstrosity. "W-what are you?"

_**The tremor in his body as well as his voice pleased them. And as they turned to look him in the eye, they said, "I'm your nightmares come to life."** _

_'Don't kill anyone.' Rage snarled a hiss by way of answer._

_**The hiss was not just in her head, it rode upon the heat filled air and as it traveled the battlefield, all conflict ground to a halt. As the few warriors in the area, the villagers, and the marauders all thought they'd heard the roar of a dragon. With all eyes upon the cloaked figure they watched as it grew and towered above them all, it was even bigger than Avatar Kyoshi's statue in the village square.** _

_**Suddenly the figure was engulfed in flame as the airships launched a volley of fireballs. The flames were swallowed up by the very shadows themselves but those watching soon realized that it had been the cloak that devoured the flames. An eerie gold glow slowly spread across the ocean of black fabric and as the outline of a dragon stood in stark contrast, they heard, "That was very ill advised."** _

_**Then all at once a volley of black fireballs flew through the air and punched through the airships and one by one each ship crashed into the bay's waters. During this the white eyes switched to red and another set had appeared above the first.** _

_**A wave of agony and rage fueled her as she sent five shadowy tendrils at the downed marauder. His attempt at distancing himself from her attack was pathetic and in vain as her soul-self latched onto him like boiling tar. The chill of it bit deep and saturated his bones. The man's terror increased as the seconds ticked by and as it grew she fed on it, plunging him beyond fear. She tugged on the tendrils attached to his legs, his screams were music to her ears, the smell of his urine made her nose twitch, and all of it was mesmerizing to her.** _

_**His screams cut off abruptly as his head disappeared from view and the last part of him to vanish was his bloody cracked finger nails, they'd dug three inch furrows in the ground as he had been dragged the six feet between him and her. The silence was suffocating and unnatural as even the wind had stilled as soon as the marauder was taken beneath that black shroud.** _

_**That silence was shattered five minutes later when the marauder was flung from the shroud like he was a tiny pebble. He sailed through the air and crunched sickeningly onto the ground. No one dared to breath nor move. Just as she began to approach him, Katara and Aang rushed in between Raven and the deathly still man.** _

_**Before anyone could do anything, a hulking creature with white pupil-less eyes, tackled Aang and Katara out of the way. It growled in warning when they tried to move. And when that wasn't enough it changed back into a human form. "Stay out of her way."** _

_**As he slowly moved toward his teammate, hoping to calm her down, he was brought up short as Raven spoke, "Does anyone else want to tango?"** _

_**Her red eyes swept over the crowd. The only thing reflecting in those eyes was the promise of pain. They moved from person to person leaving them pale and shivering but thankful that she'd passed them over to find another victim.** _

_**"Very wise decision," she fell silent and moved toward the downed marauder and as she reached him, he lifted into the air as if he were a puppet on strings, "If I ever see any of you bastards pillaging another helpless village again. I will hunt you down and do unto you what I've done to your leader."** _

_**The aforementioned leader jerked violently but did not open his eyes. Her smile was wide and humorless as she flashed the frozen marauders her fangs, "And I will enjoy every single minute of it."** _

_**It was then that the marauder woke his eyes were bloodshot and listless. When his was free of her energy he collapsed and sat staring blankly at the ground.** _

_**"Boo." Her voice triggered a reaction in him.** _

_**He started thrashing uncontrollably and pounding his head against the dirt, while wailing, "Get the their voices out. Their voices. Their voices. Teirh viceos. Ehrti Isovec. TIERH OSCIOV. TGE HTE IRETH VEICSO TOU."** _

_'_ _**Don't look at me like that mistress. No innocents were harmed and that worthless sack of skin, liked them young; Melvin's age to be exact.** _ _' Rage was visibly fatigued and as she turned away from their conversation, '_ _**This period of rest was a good suggestion. Please give my gratitude to the Worm, mistress.** _ _'_

_Raven was for the first time completely baffled. She'd never seen such a docile side of Rage before. She decided not to pursue her curiosity at this time, for she had no idea what to even ask._

_'Do you...?' She trailed off as Intelligence simply nodded to her mistress's unspoken concerns._

_'We are all worn out from our mission and I'm sure Red's been soldiering on for the last three months. You were right to demand this down time. We need it.' Intelligence let a wry grin steal across her face. 'Though this escapade certainly doesn't qualify as down time.'_

_Raven returned the smile with a small one of her own. 'Still Rage worries me. Please look after her. If you'll excuse me I have damage to control.'_

_'Don't worry.' Intelligence's voice was fading out as reality came into focus._

In her preoccupied state of mind, the rest of the marauders, at least the ones that could stand, fled to their boats. It was hard to take her own advice as the first thing that she saw was Gar nervously standing to her left.

"Raven, what was that? Did...?" His fear was like a slap in the face to her, but she understood that he was a afraid for her and not of her; he knew that Rage can taken control.

"What are you?" Katara had never been so terrified in her life, not when Aang first went into the avatar state, not when Azula struck him with lightning, not when Hama forced her to become a blood bender, and not when Zuko was almost killed. _She's evil, even more than Azula was._

Raven didn't speak and as she brushed past Katara, the waterbender reached for her arm but the waterbender's body was suddenly cold. Katara wasn't bothered by the coldness of the strange black energy encasing her entire body.

"Gar I let it happen and if you want to know why, follow me. And you Katara, will learn that I'm not evil and that I do what I must to protect and help people." Her voice seemed to snap the avatar out of his stupor.

"Let her go." Everyone one in the vicinity stepped back as the wind picked up around the avatar and his tattoos started glowing. In an instant a black ball closed around the avatar.

"Toph, your friends are fine. They're just overreacting and there is an explanation for all this." She paused and turned to face the blind earthbender, who'd been torn about whether or not to aid her friends. When the hovering rocks remained airborne Raven continued, "Please don't make me use force."

When the rocks slowly dropped to the ground, she turned around and beckoned for Iroh, Gar, and Toph to follow her. The ball of black and Katara had no say in the matter as they were taken along for the ride. The citizens and warriors of Kyoshi island watched as the dragon woman subdued a powerful waterbender and the avatar, in the avatar state, without any visible effort. Iroh had a thoughtful look on his face as he followed behind his friend having no doubt that whatever her reasons for her extreme action, it was warranted.

* * *

The haze of red that clouded her vision had been replaced with a veritable ocean of blood. The two men that had killed Ty Lee were dead themselves. Pieces of one littered the ground, a hand here, a few fingers there, and his head, it'd been cleaved in two. The other one had precise incisions along his abdomen, he'd been disemboweled, and his entrails were scattered around his body. Their pale skin had been stained red like the earth beneath them. She saw none of this as she haltingly moved to where Ty Lee had fallen. As she reached Ty Lee, Suki saw that the acrobat was still breathing.

 _She won't be alive for much longer._ This thought drove away the last of her rage, the same rage that had driven away her tears; they spilled over to trail down her face. She couldn't tear her eyes away from the horrible sight so she willed her eyes to shut. "Please don't leave."

"As much as I love you and as much as I wish I could stay. I can't." Her eyes snapped open and she watched those gray eyes, that could be as hard and as cold as steel or could hold so much warmth, lose their spark of life.

"No, no, no, no, Ty come back. Please come back. For me, please. I love you. Come back. I need you to come back. No." She felt the words pass her lips but the wind stole them away before she could hear them. An immense weight pulled one of the world's fiercest warriors to her knees. Her tears flowed like a river after a storm as she pulled Ty Lee's lifeless body into her arms. Her jaw was locked nor could she force herself to say the words. _I won't ever forget you.  
_

The sound of Suki's voice had brought Chaz Zu back to the square at a run, that would have disastrous repercussions on her protesting body later but for now she ignored it. When she entered the area all she saw was Suki cradling Ty. She wanted to go comfort her leader but she knew Suki better than anyone and so, hating every moment, she kept her distance. She put lid a on her grief as someone would need to help with the day to day needs of the village in the days to come.

About three minutes into her silent vigil, she heard approaching footsteps. _We so can't handle more marauders right now._ But what she saw instead wasn't much better than more enemies, the woman who'd saved their lives was bringing half the village to the square.

As she moved to intercept the woman and the others with her, she was shocked when another warrior, Dai, dragged her out of the woman's way. "Don't get in her way Zu, she just put a stop to the attack single handedly. And when she did something to Katara, the avatar when into the avatar state, she easily contained him."

She would have laughed it off, but she'd known Dai about as long as she'd known Suki and neither were the type to exaggerate. Not to mention Dai was unnaturally pale for someone whose family was from the Southern water tribe originally. She nodded but then took off and fell into step beside the woman. The kid next to her tried to come in between them but the woman held her hand up and shook her head.

"Suki is a very private person. She doesn't need half of the village to see her like she is." The woman remained silent but gave her, strangely enough, a reassuring look.

Once they reach the square and before anyone knew what happened, the dragon woman, the strange kid who turns into a creature, Chaz Zu, Toph, and Iroh were obscured from view as a wall of black popped into existence.

Chaz Zu jumped a foot in the air when she heard the woman address her, "I'm Raven, he's Gar, and I'm sure the others need no introduction. What's your friend's name?"

"Nice to meet you, I'm Chaz Zu, call me Zu. And her name's Ty Lee or was." Even though her voice was steady she saw a knowing look in Raven's eyes.

"I need you to go to Suki and get her to let go of Ty Lee."

"I'll need help." She tipped her head in the direction of the eerie black wall, and asked, "Can you let the others pass through that?"

By way of answer, Dai, Shenzi, Bo, and Tan Jin fell through the wall that they'd been about to slam into. "Come on girls, Suki needs us."

As they went to their leader, Raven set Katara on the ground and withdrew her soul-self from the waterbender's eyes and ears.

"I'm going to release you now and when I do please remain silent or I won't hesitate to silence you myself. Do be sure to clam your boyfriend down or Ty Lee will stay dead permanently." With that Katara found herself faced to face with Aang in the avatar state.

"Aang its okay, she didn't harm me at all." As he looked her over for injury just to be sure, and when he found nothing, he stopped glowing.

"Let me go." Suki's voice was a snarl and she kicked out, trying and failing to break free from Chaz Zu's grip on her.

"Alright Raven whatever it is you're going to do, better make it quick." Chaz Zu said being barely audible over Suki's shouting.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos." At her words, a blue glow enveloped Ty Lee's body and a black one around herself.


	6. Spirits, Auras, and Monsters

**Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender or Teen Titans. I own only the plots/situation/ideas that I have placed the characters in and my OCs.**  

 

* * *

 Her journey to the spirit world was like falling asleep but waking up in an orchard wasn't the sight that she expected to greet her. _Huh...this is odd, pretty but odd. It feels like I'm not supposed to be here._

Shaking her head of her thoughts she decided not to worry over it and explore the orchard for a bit. She was debating on which direction to go, left or right, when a voice that reminded her of the Royal Palace's gardens stopped her, "Spring is much more colorful. Although I hate to admit that this place isn't so bad, the reds, oranges, and yellows are quite striking. What do you think Ty Lee?"

It was a moment before she realized that the speaker was addressing her and as she turned to face them, her knees gave out but before she hit the ground, the woman caught her and steadied her. And when the woman stepped back, she saw that the woman had the same uniform as she did and the woman's face paint was flawlessly done.

"S-Suki?"

The woman closed her eyes and had to look away, for she couldn't stand to see Ty Lee's face as she said, "I'm avatar Kyoshi. The one you love won't be joining you for quite sometime I'm afraid."

"I know and I'm glad for that." Her smile was as fake as the one she wore on the day she first set foot on Kyoshi Island, knowing that she would forever be a faceless, shapeless Kyoshi warrior. It was her way of paying the noble warriors the respect they deserve from her, for her part in Azula's plan to conquer Ba Sing Sei.

Kyoshi wasn't fooled by her smile. "I too gave up my life for another. But I was unable to tell her that I loved her one last time. Nor did I get to see her."

The longest lived avatar sensed movement from Ty Lee and was surprised. For a moment, indecision warred and then she returned the hug. As Ty Lee pulled away, she said, "That must have been awful. But you get to see her now, don't you?"

Her lips twitched but she suppressed the impulse to frown. "On the solstice days. Even in the world of spirits the avatars have a duty to guide others to where they are meant to be. I suspect that when the next Earth Kingdom Avatar is born and dies, I will see her more than I do now."

"Kyoshi, what are you doing here?" Her voice startled Ty Lee and as she spun to face the new speaker, she was shocked to see an airbender. The airbender's eyes traveled the length of Ty Lee's frame and loosed a disgruntled sigh, "Right I should have known that where you go, you're fan girls eventually follow."

Kyoshi glared at her as the airbender starting walking closer to them. The airbender was unaffected by her gaze and once she was no more than three feet away, she continued, "Never the less she is an airbender and as such, is my responsibility to guide."

Ty Lee's eyes widened in disbelief. _Airbender...what's she talking about?_

"Yangchen, Kyoshi, neither of you should be here, as Ty Lee is my responsibility." All three of them started when he'd spoken.

Yangchen was the first to recover and as she spun to face him, she spat, "Really Roku, since when are airbender's from the Fire Nation your concern?"

At this the fire avatar bristled but remained silent as he felt the presence of another spirit. He signaled Yangchen and Kyoshi to take up defensive positions. The three avatars formed a triangle around Ty Lee as a black bird-like spirit materialized in the orchard. The spirit hovered above them. "Don't stop on my account. I'm just here to take Ty Lee back."

A huge boulder was sent flying into the air as an answer. But just before it would've hit the bird spirit, the spirit shifted into a human form and a blade of ink cut the rock in half. The spirit, now human, was then sucked into a fire tornado but the fire started flickering until it faded out.

"Are you quite finished?" the spirit's question wasn't answered right away as the three avatars stared in shock, they'd never encountered a spirit capable of withstanding their attacks before.

"Who are you?" Ty Lee's voice was little more than a whisper as she asked the spirit her question.

"Like I said," The spirit slowly lowered to the ground and ignored the tension that it felt from the three avatars. "I'm here to bring you back to Suki."

A veritable earthquake shook the ground as the earth rose up and attempted to swallow the spirit whole. "Go back to your master, servant of Koh, Ty Lee doesn't want what you're selling."

"Stop. She isn't working for Koh. And she isn't lying about taking me back." Three sets of eyes bored into Ty Lee as she defended the spirit.

"There is no way of knowing this. Its a trick of some short."

"But I do know. Auras don't lie and her's hasn't fluctuated once since her arrival here." At this the fight and vigor drained out of Kyoshi.

"It seems as though he was right." Kyoshi's words confused the other two avatars and as she tipped her head to the spirit, she said, "Go on then Ty Lee."

"What the-"

"Kyoshi-"

She held up a hand to silence her fellow avatars. "Two things before you depart girls. Ty Lee, tell Suki that she wears the uniform well and that I'm proud she is of my blood. Please ask Aang if he'll teach you airbending; whether you choose to believe it or not, you are an airbender. And Raven, if you ever find that you have more questions than answers, Wan Shi Tong requested that I pass on a message; the words of home and a collector's trove of paper and ink will bring you through the well."

"I'll be sure to tell Suki the first chance I get." Ty Lee said as she walked past the other two avatars to stand beside the spirit. A black mist surrounded the two and just before they vanished completely, the three avatars heard, "Message received Avatar Kyoshi."

* * *

The wall of ink had fallen but none of the villagers dared to step into the square for they had no idea of what would greet them. But when most of the warriors, whom arrived shortly after their sisters had vanished behind the wall, heard their leader shout they rushed into the square. The sight that greeted them was impossible; the blue glow surrounding Ty Lee had disappeared and then the gathered Kyoshi warriors, Aang, Katara, and Iroh, watched in open mouthed shock as the previously dead acrobat started breathing again.

Toph tapped the ground twice and dug a finger in one ear, checking to see if what she'd heard was really there; the heart beat of a corpse. While everyone's attention was on the acrobat, Gar had rushed forward to catch Raven; she'd collapsed as soon as her soul-self had returned to her. "You really did a number on yourself this time, Rae."

Upon hearing what he'd said Suki tore her eyes away from the newly alive acrobat, whom would need protection from a murderous Zu later, to the woman responsible for giving the acrobat back to her.

"Dai please help," she gestured to Gar and Raven, "those two to the infirmary, Bo, Zu, you're in charge of getting Ty Lee there safely as well."

_Did she do all of that to save Ty Lee? How? There's no way she could have known. Could she? Regardless I'll need to keep an eye on her._

"Katara I trust you know your way to the infirmary by now." Her voice was subdued and it pulled the waterbender from her thoughts. Katara noticed the tear tracks on Suki's face and elected not to bring up anything to do with Sokka or the twins just then.

"Aang will you?" Before she'd even finished her question he was already bending four slim poles out of the ground. Once he was satisfied with what he made, Aang removed his red cloak and cut it in half with a blast of wind, by now Shenzi and Tan Jin realized what he was doing as they each stepped forward to catch the pieces of his cloak and secured them to two of the poles; creating two makeshift stretchers.

As the seven of them took off for the infirmary, Suki turned to issue more orders to the rest of them. "Aang, Toph, Iroh, I want you in charge of extinguishing the fires. Kan, Kai, Kelu, Ade, Reina, and Zhaji! Front and center."

The six benders she called for ran from the crowd of stunned warriors, who'd seen the dragon woman bring Ty Lee back to life, and stood at attention before their leader. "Reina, Zhaji, help Aang. Kai, Kan, you two are with Toph. Kelu, Ade, team up with Iroh. We need those fires out as soon as possible."

As they rushed off she continued, "Zu Len, Jikai, Moei, and Tu Sei, get a head count of the villagers that are outside the square. Get a list of who's missing and then start searching.

Tan Jin, Kou, Buku, Usenna, and Zerlu start transporting the injured to the infirmary." As the named warriors left the square at a run, Suki turned to the remaining nine warriors, not including herself, who were the least visibly injured of her troops. Her face became as hard as stone as she issued her final orders, "Shenzi take, De, Entu, Ren, and Jin to the Unagi nest, she'll either be dead or was knocked out. If she's dead find the eggs. As for the rest of you, you will come with me to the watch tower to check for survivors and then we'll secure the island."

* * *

_"Raven what was that?" She turned away from him and ignored his question in favor of waiting for the two ex-villains to exit the courthouse._

_"Hey pay attention to me when I'm talking to you." His emotions were starting to give her a migraine._

_"Why should Jinx be the only one to get a second chance? And don't give me empty excuses Robin, we both read the H.I.V.E files. It was supposed to be a mercenary training facility. Then Brother Blood happened." She could tell that he didn't like what she'd said._

_"And when they infiltrated the Tower?" He thought he had her but she surprised him._

_"Slade hired them for a job, nothing more, nothing less. Besides I know Jinx misses her friends." She said and she brushed past him, he grabbed her arm, stopping her. "Raven are you sure about them?"_

_"I'm sure about Jinx's trust in them." With that he let her go and watched as she approached Gizmo and Mammoth hoping to convince them to join the Titans._

* * *

It was quiet in the infirmary and there were still several people that needed daily sessions with Katara, sleeping fitfully on their beds. Chaz Zu was still on bed rest for her broken ribs and Dai's left arm was still in a sling. Suki wanted to forget the whole attack on the village as quickly as possible but she couldn't. She had trouble sleeping because every time she closed her eyes, she relived everything; Ty Lee's death and the deaths of the two marauders she killed. As she walked through the emptier rows of beds, toward the exit she thought about the confrontation between Gar and Katara that she walked in on three days after the attack on the island.

_The waterbender's shouting had drawn Suki from the dojo to the building next to it."She's not injured and we need the room. She can catch up on her sleep somewhere else."_

_An ominous hiss was the only response and when she entered the building, she saw a huge creature coiled in front of the doorway leading to the isolation rooms._

_"What is the meaning of this?" The creature and the waterbender looked in her direction._

_"Suki his," she waved her hand at the creature, who hissed threateningly at her, "friend is taking up precious space for people who are actually injured."_

_"Gar could you change back and speak to me." She said, partially ignoring the waterbender who'd been particularly nasty towards her in the last year or so; not believing that Sokka was responsible for their break up._

_"She wants to move Raven and I've been trying to avoid explaining why that's a bad idea." He said while leveling a glare at Katara and she could hardly blame him, as the waterbender had expressed her opinion of Raven rather vocally a couple days ago; she was an evil monstrosity._

_As Katara looked to be about to say something, Suki cleared her throat and cut across her, "Katara, I don't know what your problem with the Dr-" she stopped short of using the title that the village elders had given the woman, "with Raven is and I don't care. Please go take a walk."_

_Katara huffed and walked swiftly out of the infirmary. Once she'd left, Suki turned her attention to Gar, whom had immediately pitched in to help the others find and locate missing villagers as soon as his friend was resting comfortably. He also shocked everyone when he demonstrated that he could turn into a lot of strange creatures and not just the one they'd seen him assume the form of during the attack. Then when Shenzi and the others returned with news about the Unagi, he volunteered to care for her until the sea serpent got better._

_"Explain it to me then." She said and when he still looked weary, she sighed, "Whatever you have to say about your friend will go as far as Ty Lee, Chaz Zu, and Dai. Ty Lee's the reason your friend is probably here in the first place, Chaz Zu and Dai are the first and second in command after me."_

_"Raven doesn't heal like Katara does. Normally Raven can absorb the pain of a wound and induce rapid healing in the other person. But when she has to bring them back to life, the price is higher. The pain of the wounds becomes two times what it should be and the wounds themselves are transferred onto her. But they don't bleed." He didn't sound like himself as he recited the words._

_"And that means?" She prompted when it didn't look as if he would say anything further._

_"When Raven brought her back to you, Ty Lee was healed completely. For Raven it means she'll be affected by Ty Lee's wounds until they would have healed naturally, had Ty Lee survived. Raven's going to be physically weaker, suffer the effects of severe anemia, and will be more sensitive to the pain of wounds with a similar nature for the next four months. That doesn't even take into account her prior exhaustion beforehand." His voice was little more than a whisper as he finished his explanation._

_"How can she be more sensitive?" She asked as her mind was still processing the information._

_"She can feel other peoples' emotions." He said fighting back a yawn but he dared not fall asleep as Katara would be back any minute._

_She filed away that little tidbit for later and said, "I hate to say it but Raven needs to be moved, if only to get her away from all of the wounded people."_

_He was already shaking his head. "She can't be moved or it will disrupt her healing trance. And if we do that, she won't wake up for a week."_

_"Let me put it this way. Would she want to prevent the people that she worked so hard to save, from receiving medical treatment, just because it will cause her problems?"_

_"No she wouldn't. But where else is there?" His question elicited laughter from her._

_At his incredulous look and when she got control of her mirth she said, "The elders are calling her the Dragon Lady. I'm sure that if you were to ask anyone whose house is still standing, they'd trip over themselves for the honor of helping her."_

_This surprised him as even the people who said Raven was their favorite Titan were afraid of her after she went full Red Menace on villains. They'd had to give some explanations over the years as to some of the incidents and each time the media monkeys had a field day at Raven's expense. It didn't help that her teammates, himself included, walked on egg shells around her after each incident._

_"But me and you can move her to one of the girls' rooms in the dojo." She said, there was already a fan club for Avatar Aang on Kyoshi and one was plenty. Though she wouldn't put it past the elders to plan a statue to go next to Avatar Kyoshi's, in the village square, of the Dragon Lady.  
_

* * *

"Ty you know what they say about a watched pot." She said once she'd made it to the room where Ty Lee was keeping a silent vigil over Raven. The acrobat's gaze never wavered from the sleeping woman.

"I was there when Gar told you that it would be a week before she woke up. So you can't tell me you didn't hear him." She saw a small smile on Ty Lee's face as an answer to her words; it was a sad smile.

"I heard him. But he's busy helping to rebuild the village and besides Iroh, Gar is her only friend. I just don't want her to be left alone." Her voice was as sad and as small as the smile on her face.

"Why is that? I'm really grateful to her but you've been coming here everyday after you woke up, to sit with her for a couple hours." She would be lying if she said she wasn't confused and just a little jealous of the attention that Raven was receiving from her partner.

Ty Lee breathed deeply, before saying, "To answer that I have to bring her up and I know how much you hate it when I do. Raven reminds me of Zula." She shook her head to clear it as she clarified, "Azula."

The sharp intake of Suki's breath made Ty Lee flinch but she would never regret talking about her friend; Azula was still a sore subject for Suki. A tense silence settled into the room. But to Ty Lee's pleasant surprise she heard Suki speak, "I'm listening."

"No two persons' auras are the same, not even Kai and Kan's, despite them being identical twins. Raven's aura is very similar to Azula's, in color, intensity, and how unique it is. Before Zula lost her mind she was both charismatic and intimidating. Zula's aura was present in every aspect of her being, how she moved, the way she talked, and especially how frightening she was when angry; you could never mistake her for someone else."

Suki had experienced all of those things when she fought the fire nation princess and despite losing spectacularly to her enemy, Suki couldn't help the respect she felt toward Azula. It was one reason among many, not the least of which was Azula's dishonoring of Avatar Kyoshi's name, for why Suki disliked the fire nation princess.

"It was quite the shock to see Zula bend for the first time when she attended the royal academy. The fire she created was the same color as her aura, blue like lightning; the cold blooded fire. Now though," she tried to resist the tears but she'd always been quick to cry and she'd never hated that, until now. "Z-Zula's aura will be the color of rust. I hate that color. I've always hated it. And the thought of my friend's aura shifting from vivid and alive to the color of insanity..."

Ty Lee closed her eyes against her tears, attempting to stem the tide but it was useless. "Ty how can you-"

"But I do know." her voice was steady and strong as she cut Suki off. "I'm the youngest of seven sisters, not six. Her name was Jade and she survived an attempted poisoning by one of the servants. But the poison had already taken her mind. My father had taken me to visit her as he'd gotten word from the doctors that she was having a good day; I was the person she liked talking to. I blacked out shortly after we arrived. Father told me that she tried to choke me and he had to act quickly. He messed up though and hit the wrong pressure point, it killed her instantly. It was my fault."

When she felt the gentle touch on her face, her eyes snapped open and Suki's blue eyes were the first thing she saw. At some point during her harrowing tale, Suki had sat next to her on the couch and her fingertips wiped Ty Lee's tears away but they wouldn't stop. With zero hesitation she pulled the acrobat into her arms and leaned back against the cushions.

Once more Ty Lee was shocked by Suki's actions as she wasn't the type to display her affectionate side around other people; sleeping or otherwise. Rather than ask a million questions Ty Lee decided that she wanted to enjoy whatever this was while it lasted. So she didn't resist as Suki pulled her close and rested her head on Suki's right shoulder.

When Suki was sure that Ty was comfortable she tightened her grip around the acrobat and said, softly, "It wasn't your fault."

The matter of fact tone of her voice seemed to lift an immense weight from the acrobat's shoulders as she let out a relieved breath and tried to squeeze the stuffing out of Suki. At that moment it dawned on Suki that she had almost lost her heart and soul. _I thank you Raven for giving her back to me. I'll never be able to repay you for this. But by the spirits I will try my hardest too._

A slight smile was on her face as she whispered, "What exactly is so unique about Raven's aura?"

"You're still interested? No one's ever believed that I could see auras before." Ty Lee said it more to herself but Suki still heard her. "Of course I do. You were right after all...about me."

Sensing the mild discomfort that Suki was feeling, the acrobat giggled at that and began, "A person's aura is made up of a single color, which I call their core color. I first discovered this when I met Mai at the academy. I watched for a shift in her color but it never changed. This fact leads me to believe that whatever the color I see covering the entire person like a suit of armor, I'm seeing the very essence of who they are; their spirit. Every person I have ever met has only ever had one core color, that changed when I met Azula she had two colors. And now I've met another person with two colors, Raven. With me so far?"

Slightly stunned Suki nodded and gestured for Ty Lee to continue. "Here's the really strange and unique bit, for most of Raven's life her colors were separate from the other. For the last six days I've been studying her aura and found that the separation was caused by another person's aura. Whoever this aura belong to it had an adverse influence on Raven's two colors by forcibly separating them. But now that the influence is gone her colors are slowly starting to mix. The jagged lightning like forks of these colors are lined with rust. When the merge is finished I suspect that the rust will fade considerably but it won't vanish altogether."

* * *

_'As an untrained aura reader she's skilled.' Intelligence was quite impressed with Ty Lee's assessment. 'And here I thought she was like a younger Beast Boy.'_

_'Haven't we learned this lesson, don't underestimate the loud, obnoxious, and impossibly impulsive ones.' Raven's tone was teasing with an undercurrent of mocking, that Intelligence picked up on._

_'Quite. The mistress of all things pink and fluffy still won't let me live it down. She goes on and on and on.' If she didn't know Intelligence any better, she could have sworn that the emote was bitter over that blind date with Jinx. It was Happy who'd spelled it out for the both of them and led to the discovery of their sexual orientation._

_'You're seriously still upset over that. Cut Happy some slack. She eased a lot of our stress about what was bothering us...for the most part anyhow.'_

_Intelligence could remember by gone days when her mistress refused to acknowledge that Happy existed and even though her mistress had been making progress with connecting to the others, it still annoyed the hell out of Intelligence when her mistress sided against her._

_'What do you care? You don't live here.' She sounded like a petulant snake, even to herself, but she was long past caring at this point._

_'Easy, there's no need to try and parody Rage. Can't a girl get a pleasant conversation with her emotions without getting her head bitten off anymore.' Raven's rhetorical question was ignored by Intelligence._

_'Look if there is one thing I've learned from all of you, its that I shouldn't ignore you and nor should I try to control you all of the time.' She said knowing instantly that she just confused Intelligence._

_It could've had something to do with the growl that was directed at her. So she elaborated. 'You could stand to learn a thing or two from Happy despite how enthusiastic she is half of the time, she can see some things far better than you or me on occasion.'_

_'You've won this round mistress.' She said begrudgingly conceding defeat to her mistress. Intelligence hated it when her logic was taken away. The sound of laughter rang throughout the library. Intelligence's breath was taken away at the magical sound of it. The only ones that had never listened to their own laughter was Red and herself now though, she'd endeavor to hear more of it.  
_

* * *

"What's so funny?" He asked as he heard Raven's laughter and watched as she slowly sat up to better take in her surroundings.

"Inside joke. How long was I out for?"

"Ten days. They needed room in the infirmary and I was against moving you at first but someone talked me into it." He was hesitant to ask but he wanted a detailed explanation for going 'Full Red Menace'. "Mind giving me an explanation for what that was?"

"I was just going to have Rage scare them all but then those air balloons decided to open fire on me. When Rage is in control she's attuned to negative emotions like sonar. She was being fueled by someone else's wrath when she sent that marauder to hell for five minutes." Her voice had taken on a dangerous edge.

"Easy Rae I was a little worried is all." He muttered.

"If you've got something to say, than say it." That dangerous edge to her voice caused a vase in the room to shatter.

"I said that I brought you some of Iroh's tea." He did a reasonable job of controlling the quiver in his tone as he approached her with a steaming cup of tea. When she took it from him, he literally jumped back onto the couch.

"Katara's gone." She whispered to him after draining the cup of the tea. She saw him flash her that goofy grin and she hurriedly set the empty cup down; bracing for impact. But the hug she received was unusually subdued for him. She hated to think of what that meant. "They're all afraid of me. Aren't they?"

His answer was utterly unexpected, "Nope. The elders have given you the official title of Dragon Lady. I think they're planning a commemorative statue to erect in your honor. Some of the warriors are speculating that you're a benign spirit whose taken a human form in order to rid the world of evil, on account of the fact that you didn't try to hurt anyone but the marauders."

"But?" She knew that that was too good to be true for everyone on the island.

"Katara has expressed the opinion that you're an evil monstrosity and a few of the villagers agreed with her." He said with a sad heart as Raven never seemed able to catch a break.

"Its fine Gar. I expected something like this would happen and its not like she had a high opinion of me from the start." The resignation in her voice was clear as day to him. He really wanted to explain the waterbender's reasons but it wasn't his place to say and he was sure that if Raven spent enough time around Katara that things would work out between the two eventually.

"Ty Lee really wants to talk with you. Would you like to do that now or...?" He reluctantly inquired, he wanted her to get as much rest as possible. As he'd decided he would stay on Kyoshi to help them rebuild and to care for the Unagi rather than continue on to the Fire Nation.

"I'll speak with her now." Nodding he stood and walked toward the room's exit as he reached the doorway he said, "Your cloak and boots kind of disappeared, I have no idea where they are."

Once he was gone she used her left hand to draw a circle in the air, almost instantly a perfect circle of her soul-self formed. Without a moment of hesitation she plunged her hand inside of it and pulled out her cloak. After it was on, she once more observed the room she was in. The furnishing was minimal, aside from the bed, and the couch, there was a side table on her left and a mirror attached to the wall above it.

When she finished the sweep of the room she gingerly got off of the bed and made her way to the couch, it looked awfully comfy. That fact that it offered an unimpeded view of the door, the room's only exit, was an added bonus. Just as she settled onto the couch with a sigh of contentment, a wave of emotion had black spots dancing across her vision.

"Wow how are you making them dance like that?" The speaker was standing in the doorway staring at the various balls of ink that seemed to drift in their own self contained wind. The girl's eyes were filled with awe as they bored imploringly into Raven's violet ones.

_'I think she could give Beast Boy's patented kitten routine a run for its money.' Happy's intrusion wasn't unwelcome exactly but Raven was too tired to entertain her just then._

"I'm not making them do this. You are." Her statement was met with honest curiosity. "You're gratitude is currently affecting my aura in a really positive way right now."

"You heard all of that?" At this the spots in the air all vanished and reappeared in rapid succession.

"I did and I'm willing to teach you all I know about aura reading. However there is something else that I must do first." She gestured for the acrobat to take a seat on the other side of the couch. When Ty Lee had settled the first thing she said was, "Suki was right you do sound like Mai. Except with her you can see the emotion in her eyes, yours betray nothing."

"Yes well, not all of us can freely express emotion without endangering other people. I'm sure your friend Mai uses apathy in an attempt to ward off those who'd try to harm her, if she chose to express emotion. It's nice to finally put a name to the sense of familiarity that I feel often. But I also sense overwhelming fear when people are near me." The acrobat was speechless at Raven's spot on speculations about Mai and Azula in how the dragon woman resembles the two. "Let's discuss your friend, Azula."

The spots were back in the air again and it was shocking to Raven how easily her soul-self was being influenced by Ty Lee's emotional exuberance. As she waved the spots away a terrifying, and unpleasant, thought was whispered to her. _' **She's been marked by us. Bringing her back from the world of spirits has made it easier for us to connect with her emotions.'** Rage was enjoying the dismay that she felt from her mistress at this unpleasant information. But, and she'd never admit it, the red cloaked and demonic emote owed her mistress a lot for fighting against their father's influence; Red had hated being his toy._

 _ **'It's a temporary connection. It will fade.'**_ _she said soothingly, hoping to put her mistress's mind at ease._

"I was surprised when Iroh spoke with me about what he asked of you. You've no idea how happy it makes me to know that you're willing to help Azula. Her actions during the war is what makes her evil or so everyone says. She's a monster and insane they say. Oh Ty Lee how could have you possibly been friends with her." Ty Lee said, her voice had an edge in it and black soul self started creeping up the walls.

Her gray eyes flashed and lit up like storm clouds. "They don't know her or what she's suffered. Monsters are not born, they are made."

Her soul-self covered the entire room. "I need you to take deep breaths and calm yourself down."

The acrobat did as asked and started breathing deeply. Raven watched her soul-self reluctantly recede from the ceiling and walls. It was several moments more before it reached the floor. But once it did she said, "I don't see the world painted in just black and white like Aang and Katara; I'm a painted in shades of gray person. If those two knew, about me, about what I am, Azula's vile deeds would pale in comparison to my very existence. You can see it, can't you?"

Ty Lee nodded, "Blue, Red, and Black, You have three colors but the Red is turning black now. And some of it's leeched into the Blue. They're merging; trying to achieve a balance, now that balance can be reached without altering you as a person. However the separation was there from the moment of your birth and because of that, the merge will gradually happen overtime; now that the first, crucial, part of the process has ended. It will be at least five years before they come together."

She saw what Ty Lee's confusion would do to her errant soul-self and decided, to tell the acrobat what all of those observations meant.

"You remember when the avatars accused me of being an agent of Koh?" At Ty Lee's nod, she continued, "They were mostly right, he's my Uncle. Not that I was aware of that before I met him. A vicious entity like him is usually referred to as a demon. I'm half-demon."

"Huh, I guess that explains why I sometimes saw a person who looks like you with four red eyes when I was studying your aura." She spoke softly, being able to recognize a touchy subject when a person brought them up. _Who'd have thought it was possible for someone to feel more self hatred than Azula._

"Yes." Raven's voice was devoid of emotion, it would take some getting used to how people reacted to her or their lack of reaction. "I want to hear about Azula. Anything you can tell me will help. No matter how little or how much that is."

She didn't have to wait long for Ty Lee to begin,"I was never afraid of her. How could I be when her aura was so warm and inviting? And like a moth to flame it drew me to her. When I first met her she used to smile and laugh. Sure, she was still mean to everyone but it wasn't malicious, it was a reflection of her opinion of you. The nastier she was, the less she thought of you.

She also hated it when someone did something better than she did, for instance, I remember when I did better cartwheels and handstands than she did, she knocked me over. I didn't like how she'd act sometimes and it frustrated me that someone whose aura was so inviting and pleasant, was so horrible. This was a frustration that I shared with her mother and her brother. But unlike them I later understood where the source of her perfectionist and manipulative natures stemmed from.

Additionally her mother, her brother, and Iroh were already distant, they all thought she was a monster. So she turned to her father. He was the only one who paid her any attention. But his attention had a price."

_'Whoa, if we can't do this through conventional means, you realize that we'll have to enter Azula's mind, right?' Intelligence had never sounded so stymied before._

_'We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. I'd like to avoid it, if at all possible.' Intelligence nodded her agreement, she didn't want to potentially cause even more problems by wading into another person's mind. The consequences could be unimaginably disastrous._

"What happened that cause you to understand her better? If you don't mind my asking." Raven tried to read her emotions as she spoke about Azula. Her emotions had put Raven through the ringer as they shifted from angry to sad to resigned.

"I'll start from the beginning."

* * *

**8 years ago**

* * *

It was always like a double edged sword when she visited the royal palace, sure she was happy to see her friend but she'd also have to see the fire lord; he gave her the creeps. He was also responsible for Mai's family moving to the Earth Kingdom and he affected Azula, changed her and she was different after spending time with her father. She first noticed that Azula would be even more cruel after she spent time with the Fire Lord. When they were kids she ignored it but it was harder now; she'd been teaching Azula acrobatics for the last 8 months. And with surprisingly little time the princess had picked it up in the first four, but practice makes perfect.

Her warm cheerful gray eyes were filled with concern as she watched Azula collapse to the ground after only ten minutes of practice. It was odd and just a little horrifying because there was no outward reaction from the princess. Azula just silently push herself up from the ground and was about to start again but Ty Lee couldn't let her. "Zula why don't we take a break."

She knew immediately that it was the wrong thing to say as the princess turned to pin her in place with a fire filled glare. "I'm not tired."

With that the princess turned and once more attempted to tumble across the training grounds. The princess had only managed to get half way before she collapsed again but unlike before she was deathly still. If the acrobat wasn't able to see auras, she would be panicking but Azula's aura was still there, still strong but in some places it was purple. That purple looks wrong, like it shouldn't be there. Were her thoughts as she waited and waited and waited for Azula to move or anything. The princess never did. She took a tentative step forward and when there still wasn't a reaction she kept going.

She was almost to the princess when she noticed something odd; the princess was bleeding from her left leg and right arm. Her vision turned red, and not because there was a small pool of it underneath Azula, and all she wanted to do was kill the fire lord. But as suddenly as the red haze was there, it was gone. As the most pitiful sounding whimper escaped from Azula. _Okay calm down. Remember what dad said. First stop the bleeding or put pressure on the wounds if stopping it wasn't possible._

She took a deep breath and gently rolled Azula over onto her back despite the acrobat's gentle approach Azula let out another pain filled whimper but didn't open her eyes. Now that that was done, she knelt down next to Azula and tore the sleeve of her shirt off. Then she tore that into smaller strips.

She eased Azula's sleeve back and as she did so, couldn't help but gasp at what she saw; thin angry red burn scars crisscrossed half of Azula's arm. She shook the image from her mind, though she would never be able to forget it, and focused on the slash that started at Azula's wrist and spiraled up her arm to her elbow. The acrobat was relieved to see that it wasn't very deep but it was still going to need to be stitched up. Once she had that wound bandaged, she started on Azula's leg wound.

What she uncovered was even worse than the burns on Azula's arm. The scar was a dark, almost black, red and the acrobat knew upon seeing that shade of red; that this scar was recent as it hadn't faded it yet. Like earlier she tried to ignore the scar and proceeded to bandage another incision that wasn't as large as the arm wound but it was deeper. _Second once a patient is stable enough to be moved get them to a healer immediately. I'll take her back to her room. No I'll take her to mine._ Before she attempted to carry Azula anywhere, she double checked her make shift bandages and once she deemed them secure, she picked the princess up. _Thank Agni she isn't wearing armor today._

* * *

 _This isn't my room._ She thought as she woke up in an unfamiliar room. It was a moment later when everything came rushing back to her. With rising dread she glanced to her left, expecting to see a sneer of disappointment, but received the shock of a lifetime. She saw Ty Lee sleeping on a chair with blood smeared on her hands and clothing, on the bedside table was a bowl devoid of water.

As she slowly sat up a damp cloth on her fore head fell and landed in her lap. Now that she was more awake than before she recognized the room as Ty Lee's. Why did she bring me here? Deciding that her answers were more important then Ty Lee's beauty sleep, she stretched her arm toward the acrobat. An uncomfortable tautness in her arm warned her that that was a bad idea. Thoroughly perplexed she experimentally flexed the muscles in her arm and winced. That's when she noticed that her sleeve was missing and a bandage covered the length of her arm. _She treated my wounds. Why would she do that? She's seen them..._

The princess was so preoccupied with her thoughts that she failed to noticed that her actions had woken the acrobat. Who was silently watching emotions that were rarely, if at all, seen as they flashed across Azula's face. However it was the tears threatening to fall that prompted her to speak, "Zula I understand how hard it is to be a prodigy. You told me once that it wasn't always easy. I didn't understand then but I do now."

Azula jerked away from her voice and nearly fell off the other side of the bed but she found that the acrobat had prevent her fall by grabbing her arm, just above the bandages. She refused to look at Ty Lee as the acrobat pulled her back from the edge and let go of her arm. She heard rather than saw Ty Lee settle on the bed next to her.

"Zula please tell me that your father isn't-" _Responsible for those scars._ She stopped talking when those tears fell. The acrobat resisted the urge to pull Azula into her arms and hold her close. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Tell me why?" Her question was a mere whisper and she didn't like how broken she sounded, so she tried again, "Why did you help me?"

"I'm your friend. Friends help each other." Ty Lee said simply. Azula's hollow laughter followed the acrobat's response. Ty Lee didn't like that laughter.

"Zula I'm not as stupid as I seem. You're different after being around your father. I don't necessarily like it but I can ignore it because you're my friend. The first person I met who could always tell me apart from my sisters; you have no idea how much that meant to me. But this...he's hurting you and that makes me want to...you know..." As she finished she formed a fist with one hand and smacked it into the palm of her other hand. Azula saw this out of the corner of her eye and turned, taking in the furious face of the acrobat.

"Thank you." With wide disbelieving eyes the acrobat sat stunned, she'd never heard Azula say that, not ever. "I don't deserve you as a friend."

"Well...I am kind of awesome." When a fierce glare met her words, the acrobat laughed and said, "You don't have to scare me into submission. But if it helps keep up appearances with him then go ahead but always know that I will follow any orders you give me. I don't really have much say in the matter you are, after all, Princess of the Fire Nation."

"What if you did get a say? What if I let you decide?"

"I will choose to do whatever you ask or order me to do. But I'd prefer it if you asked, although I will keep in mind that asking might not be an option some times. I promise that you will always be able to trust me to chose you over everyone else." She said with no hesitation whatsoever.

Azula was at a loss for words. It wasn't just about the promises that her friend had made or that Ty Lee had treated her wounds. No one had ever been willing to step between her and her father, as it would mean certain death. Ty Lee knows the consequences of what she threatened. _She really truly does care about me and not because I'm the princess._ In a rare display of affection she pulled her friend into a hug. She panicked briefly when there was no response from Ty Lee but then the acrobat attempted to rob her of breath. As she pulled away she heard, "Zula if something bad happens with him, I want you to promise me that you'll tell me about it. Please promise me."

She was very uneasy but nonetheless she said, "I promise."

* * *

**Present Day**

* * *

"I broke that promise two years later and," She fought back tears as she said, "and I forced my self to watch as my betrayal broke what was left of her mind. It wasn't until later that it dawned on me, what would happen to her, what her father would do once he'd learned of her failure. I spent months in jail believing that I'd sentenced my friend to death. If there's one thing that fire lord Ozai couldn't abide by it was public embarrassment; he burned his own son's face and banished him at 13."

"I have the sudden urge to find this Ozai and kill him." Raven's voice caused the acrobat to shift her gaze from the listless spots of ink, that she'd been studying, to the dragon lady's face. She wishes she hadn't as those four red eyes were what greeted her. She was torn between being terrified and astonished for she had never seen anyone's aura, not even Azula's, flare with so much crimson in such a short span of time before. _She scarier than Zula._

"Can I help too?" She asked with a little too much enthusiasm. But the unexpected offer of assistance caused Raven to chuckle. Before long she saw the effect of Raven's amusement on the room. "I don't think I'll ever get tired of watching your aura interact with everything."

Raven allowed her to watch a moment longer before she wrested her soul-self into some semblance of control. "I wasn't expecting to get very much unbiased information about your friend, thank you for telling me what you observed."

"If you want to thank me properly, help Zula get better." Ty Lee hesitated to speak further but she knew that she'd regret not saying anything. "Please tell her that I did chose her, even if it didn't look like it at the time."

"I'll let her know."

With that the acrobat stood and walked to the door when she reached it she stopped and glanced back at the dragon lady, "Thanks for saving my life. If you're tired get as much rest as you can, Aang and Katara want to leave tomorrow morning."


	7. Grudge Match

**Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender or Teen Titans. I own only the ideas/situation/plots that I have placed the characters in and my OCs.**

* * *

The next morning was a blur for the half-demon, who was still in desperate need of an eternity of sleep, as she climbed into Appa's saddle and promptly went back to sleep. As one, Aang, Katara, Iroh, and Toph directed their attention to Gar.

"What?" He asked unfazed by the whole event.

"Mind explaining how someone whose slept for ten days still needs sleep?"

He shrugged and took a bite of his, thankfully, meat free breakfast. "I'll level with you, she normally isn't this tired and coming here was supposed to be a vacation for her. But what she did ten days ago...just made her exhaustion worse than before. When I talked to her earlier this morning, I got a semi serious promise out of her that she would avoid using her powers unless absolutely necessary."

If anything Aang and Katara were even more unsettled than before, Toph and Iroh were just worried about their friend. "That's it, I'm going just so I can prevent Nightmare from any more drastic actions."

"Toph you nee-"

"Listen Twinkle Toes, when you and Sparky tricked me into the whole policing Republic city thing, I went along with it because it was either that or go back home to my parents. I'm your sifu and, your earth bending still sucks, you have two more years of training under me. And I don't know about you but I want to finish that up. I'm going so that I can keep Sugar Queen," She paused here and turned her head in the waterbender's direction. "from agitating Raven. I'm sure Iroh will appreciate the back up."

Katara wisely said nothing after Toph had went back to devouring her food. The rest of breakfast was silent as everyone wanted to depart and get back to their original purpose. As Aang settled onto Appa's head and just as he was about to take off, Gar addressed him, speaking in a soft whisper, "Aang, I know you and Katara have questions about Raven. Yes she's dark but that doesn't mean she's evil. Please just let her rest, she's more than earned it."

Aang nodded as he said, "Yip, Yip."

* * *

The days following their last morning on Kyoshi were tense for Aang and Katara as they observed Raven's daily routine; when they would land and make camp for the night, Raven would help set up camp, assist with other small tasks, turn in for the night, and the next morning would be up meditating while they ate breakfast. They offered her food on numerous occasions but the only thing that she would accept was tea from Iroh.

Her unusual behavior was unsettling for Aang, but he put it out of his mind upon remembering his agreement with Gar. Gar had been right no matter his nor Katara reservations about Raven, she had earned her peace and quiet. _Katara on the other hand won't get over whatever she's hung up on about Raven. I hope Katara doesn't do anything rash._

On the fourth night after leaving Kyoshi the routine was shattered as everyone heard Raven say, "To whom it may concern as to my whereabouts this evening, I will be meditating somewhere along the beach." She pointed in the direction of a collection of tall rocks that were barely visible in the fading sunlight.

When she was far enough away from the light of the camp fire and the animosity wafting off of Katara, she pulled out her communicator and re-read the message that Robin had sent. The same message that woke her up sometime during the day.

From: Coffee Addicted Control Freak

There is no easy way to say this so I will get straight to the point. I'm sending Team Black Magic to you. The reason is justifiable and there will be no arguments. After you left I got into it with the JL, they told me who it is that we're looking for. They knew this whole time and they should have just told us. Its the Brotherhood, along with Warp, Plasmus, and Psimon.

Inform Beast Boy about the Brotherhood. This isn't an inter-dimensional phone call kind of conversation.

Received:

Tue Jun 23, 2:47 pm

_'That's just perfect.' Raven could only nod in agreement with Intelligence._

_'He's right though. Gar isn't going to handle the information well. Lets just hope that Black Magic will be able to keep him from doing anything too extreme.' She said before she took a deep breath and dialed Gar's communicator.  
_

* * *

[ _We lose control of the moment, Another trend goes out of season, A new love, forever, Look the other way, You see through me, A new trend, indifference. You are a child of privilege, Your reputation leads you, All trace of light will disappear, You're falling into season, Their every word is insincere, There is no time for reason_ ]

Gar was helping Suki, Ty Lee, Bo, Kai, Kan, and many of the more able villagers to rebuild the buildings that'd burnt down in the attack. Luckily he was taking a break and only Suki was near him as the strange music filled the air. Suki was on the verge of asking him about it when he flipped open a green rock and, much to her shock, an image of Raven flickered to life. "What's up?"

"Team Black Magic apparently. Also Robin just got word from the JL." Suki watched as Raven's words affected Gar. The Kyoshi warrior hadn't known him very long but she was worried at how still and serious he grew. _Black Magic? Robin? The JL? What are they talking about and from Gar's reaction...this can't be good._

"Who are you supposed to be looking for?" His voice was an undecipherable growl to Suki but it seemed that Raven had no trouble.

"Before I tell you, is there anyone there with you?" Her question threw him off but he nonetheless waved Suki over. As soon as Suki was visible on screen, she said, "Suki this is going to be confusing but I need you to have Ty Lee chi block him. Right now."

Without a moment of hesitation Suki was in motion and as Gar fell to the ground, she grabbed the green rock out of the air before it could join its owner on the ground. "Sorry Gar but it was the only way to prevent you from doing something stupid."

"Raven don't you think this is a little much." Said a mildly concerned Suki as she saw Gar attempting to rise from the ground.

"Its the Brotherhood." She said by way of answer. The sneer that appeared on his face sent a shiver down Suki's spine. She was very glad that not only did she pick up chi blocking within months of Ty Lee offering to teach it to everyone but also that she had disabled Gar moments before.

"Who or what is the Brotherhood?" Raven was expecting this question but just as she was about to respond someone else beat her to the punch.

"Their only the evilest bastards alive who revel in other people's suffering." His voice was half a growl of frustration and half uncontrollable fury.

"Gar they may not even be here. You know how Robin is; better safe than sorry." Her words served to placate him somewhat.

"When will they arrive?" He asked a moment or two later.

"Robin didn't say. But knowing them, they could already be on their way."

"Raven if the Brotherhood is here...Black Magic won't be nearly enough back up." He was considerably calmer now but his agitation still bled into his voice.

"I doubt the avatar and his friends will just sit idle while an organization of evil masterminds wreck havoc." Her words were emphasized by Suki who was nodding in confirmation at that.

"Gar when you're mobile again please promise me that you won't actively try and search for signs of the Brotherhood on Kyoshi." He wasn't going to make any such promises however her tone of voice was one that he'd only heard once before; right before her father almost killed her.

He sighed in defeat and, "I won't Rae. But after Black Magic gets here. All bets are off."

"Fair enough. Take care Gar."

A second after she'd ended the call she said, "Azarath Metrion Zinthos," As the icicles met with her soul-self they cracked it like glass but her barrier held. "Its about time, I've grown weary of waiting. To be honest Katara, I was expecting something like this would happen. Although I thought you'd have known better than trying to ambush me. Guess I was mistaken."

_The way she speaks, her attire, Kyoshi Island, different dimensions, Black Magic, and she's going to help Azula. I can't stand it anymore._

Rather than waste time speaking the waterbender shot another wave of a icicles at Raven, as before a wall of black thwarted her attack. But as soon as the wall was up she brought her arms up and pushed forward, only to pull them back again. She did this several more times before a huge wave of water rose up behind the wall, she held it for a moment longer then it crashed down on the beach and as it did so the wall of black vanished.

The waterbender's heart was racing as she swept her eyes across the flooded beach. Seconds ticked by as she continued to search for her target, her efforts were futile. As her eyes scanned the rocks to her left, a flash of black was her only warning as she was swarmed by shadowy birds. Her arms were in motion and before the birds could get any nearer a dome of ice formed around her.

 _Birds? Seriously, is that the best she's got._ She fought down the amusement that her thoughts sparked as she heard the first sickening crack. Her eyes widened as the surface of the ice turned from blue-white to pitch black. Then as soon as the black finished spreading, the entire structure shattered into dust.

So mesmerized by what she'd just witnessed the waterbender hadn't noticed that the ground beneath her feet had also been covered in black and was creeping up her body. It wasn't until Raven rose from a black circle in front of her that Katara felt the extreme cold of the bands on her skin as they contracted rapidly, telling her that she wouldn't be breathing for much longer. _I c-can't breathe. She's going to kill me. I told myself that I would never use it again. But what other choice to I have? I'm not just living for myself anymore._

"I'm sorr-" She rasped out with the last of her breath while starring into those sightless white eyes.  
"Azarath Metrion Zinthos."

The words dropped the waterbender to the ground and as she gasped for breath, she brought her arms up and reached into Raven's body. When she felt the blood respond to her movements, the waterbender clenched her fists shut and pulled her arms back. Her eyes watched in satisfaction at Raven's motion still before halting altogether. She rose from the ground and stepped toward Raven.

_'What the fuck? We can't move anything?' Nevermore was chaotic at the best of times but right now it was pandemonium as every emote converged around their paralyzed mistress._

_'Silence! I'll ask.' For once all her emotions listened as their mistress established contact with Katara._

_"What the fuck are you doing to me?" If she weren't trying to hold back both Rage and her soul-self, she'd be very satisfied at Katara's fear reaching a fever pitch as her question passed through the waterbender's mind._ Katara jumped back as she heard Raven's voice echo around her head.

"How are you talking like this?" The questioned elicited a dark bark of laughter to ring across Katara's mind as she heard, _"I've always been able to do this. But I'd like to know how you tricked me._ _ **No one tricks me."**_

"Save the theatrics for the people who don't know how weak you'll be after this. And as for what I'm doing, its called bloodbending. If you're not careful I will end you with a simple flick of my wrist." She wasn't expecting her words to affect Raven as much as they did but in a flash the white eyes narrowed into slits before a second set of them appeared above the first, both sets of eyes turned as red as blood. _**"Weak. I'm not weak. I'm more capable than the likes of you. You are a pathetic human and how dare you insult me. I can already taste your fear it's quite delicious and energizing."**_

Her face was white as snow as the voice filled her mind and brought with it the promise of a painful death. Despite the shake in her limbs she bravely stepped even closer to the red eyed monster, "You do frighten me a little. But that's not why I distrust you so much. You're going to help Azula get better and after what you did on Kyoshi; I couldn't understand why a person like you, a decent person, would choose to help a monster like her. And its a little weird how you and your friend just showed up out of thin air."

_**"Decent? Me? That's the funniest thing I've ever heard in my life. Ain't that a riot? Hmph...Candy will get a kick out of that..."  
** _

* * *

_'There, did you feel that? I think it's the hilt of a sword but the tree that its in, is a couple hundred yards away.' Courage said while dragging her, stiff as a board, mistress over to Madam Snark as Red stepped into to deal with Katara's rambling._

_'I can feel it, barely. This will be a trick to pull off.' Intelligence said distractedly as she was trying to concentrate on bringing the sword closer before getting a hold of it with their soul-self._

_"Its not that she necessarily hates us and she's lying about distrusting us; she jealous. No she's afraid. Like I am." As Raven spoke Intelligence was getting frustrated and was feeling very worn down as she realized that using their talents was a lot more draining without her mistress helping._

_'You're going to explain this revelation of yours, aren't you?'_

_"If I could roll my eyes right now, that's what I'd do in response to your question. But I digress, she has an aversion to bloodbending. She afraid that using it will prove to be too much temptation and somehow turn her evil. She's afraid of what she could become if she uses bloodbending too much. Good memories are associated with the technique but when she learned bloodbending those memories turned sour." Raven fell silent for a moment as she felt the emote's concentration wavering. When Intelligence's focus was better she concluded with,_

_"Its just like my feelings about Rage and Trigon; I know she isn't him but the grief she, and by extension him, put me through. And there's the near all-consuming fear that the next time I let her have control is the last time I'll ever be myself. Our power its intoxicating and every time I use more of it, I feel like I'm losing sight of who I am."_

_At hearing the honest and heart wrenching confession from her mistress, Intelligence resolved to bury Red in an avalanche of books or ten, later. 'Alright the sword is getting easier to control and I think Red's about to snap Katara's mind.'_

_'I wouldn't have allowed that.' Raven grew even more still and Intelligence was shocked into stillness at the sound of that voice. The emote wore a black cloak, that was styled more like a Grandmaster monk's; the hood cut the wearer's face in half with a slim triangular length of cloth that stopped just past the nose, while to either side the hood arched above both eyes casting the lower half of the face in shadow rather than upper half. The clasp for the cloak was a black and pink cat that reminded Raven of Jinx._

_'It's not possible for Rage to take total control over me. Nor can I totally suppress Rage, despite your best attempts at doing so. Its why I am unable to stop her when you get angry. She is a master at exploiting the anger you feel as a human to catch me off guard.' It was unnerving how much this emote was different from them. Her eyes were the same as Raven's but that is where their similarities ended._

_"I take it you are Affection then?"_

_'The pink one got it wrong, it's Love. But you may call me Affection. I remind you of her.' She said, gently correcting Raven._

_"Why wouldn't you? Rage reminds me of Trigon, its just my luck that you remind of Arella."_

_As Raven was being hauled back over to Rage by Courage she heard Affection speak to Intelligence, 'Not a good first impression was it?'_

_Intelligence snorted and said, 'Her affection for us only goes so far. Mistress has had very few pleasant interactions with us. Even I'm not immune from her ire. But I'm also glad that I'm not in Red's cloak, Mistress loathes the Red Menace.'_

_'Welcome to Nevermore. Nevermore sane than an asylum.' This statement was proceeded by a chorus of groans, face palms, and one irritated shout of 'Candy!' as said emote laughed at her own pun._

_"Don't make me come in here to settle this." None of her emotes paid any attention to her threat as they all gathered around Affection; except one.  
_

* * *

"Y-you shouldn't be able to do thi-" The waterbender stopped speaking when she felt the sword press against her throat.

_"I'd be happy to explain the how but my very own blood is preventing me from opening my mouth. And in my current state of exhaustion coupled with recovering from Ty Lee's wounds, using telepathy is quite draining at the moment."_

Neither of them dared move as they remained locked in a battle of wills, until Raven saw Katara flick her wrist. Not one to give second chances Raven kept the sword pressed against the waterbender's neck as she began, "You may have control over my blood and muscles but you can't exert that control over my mind. The ink like energy that I am able to wield, is my actual soul that I control with my mind not my body."

The waterbender's eyes were wide as her mind processed what she'd just heard or tried too. But it seemed that she was in for more as Raven said, "The 'theatrics' that you told me to refrain from, was actually the embodiment of my anger taking over. I'm half-demon, half human. I could have killed you at anytime in the last ten minutes but I'm not a killer and even though my chances of being able to handle the Avatar in a fight are great, I don't want to harm you."

A second later and the waterbender felt the sword moving. As she watched it being lowered to the ground a spark of recognition raced through her. Once the blade was on the ground and the black left it, the sheen of the gray-black metal confirmed her suspicions; it was Sokka's space sword. Her entire body was trembling as she released Raven from her control and then collapsed to the ground. _Picking this fight was the stupidest thing I've ever done._

"Grudges are pointless." At this the waterbender glanced toward Raven who, she just realized, had been hovering above the ground despite being held under the waterbender's bloodbending.

"I'm not angry at you and in all honesty I would have done the same, if I were in the same position as you. I was also waiting for you to explode and was wondering what was taking so long, you were waiting for the full moon on the off chance that you were forced to use bloodbending. Though how you managed to trick me into lowering my guard in order to use it was impressive. I mistook your regret and shame for the attack and not for your decision to use Bloodbending."

"Who are you?" She asked at length in complete disbelief at how anyone could not not be angry at her for using their body like a puppet.

A wide, terror inducing, smile greeted her words. "I'm Raven."

Before she could utter a word her vision turned black and then she found herself standing on a stretch of beach that wasn't flooded.

"Have a seat we need to talk." With no hesitation the waterbender sat and stared out over the ocean, just listening to the waves crash against the shore. The silence wasn't uncomfortable but it was tense. Eventually she broke that silence, as loathe as she was to give in first. "When I reached Kyoshi island it was like the raids that the Fire Nation did on my village. There were too many of them, it was overwhelming, and than the most terrifying sound I've ever heard forced everyone to stop. That's when I saw you and then those airships attacked you. I thought you were done for, then you returned fire; destroying the ships like they were nothing. But what you did to that man was beyond cruel it was evil, he was speaking in tongues."

She gestured to Raven that she wasn't finished when it looked as if Raven wanted to say something. "Later after I saw it with my own eyes, you brought Ty Lee back to life. I thought, this person did unspeakable evil to a another living person to save a stranger. Who does that? Who does that and doesn't seem to hold their power over other people. Who does that and doesn't become as cruel and evil like the power they wield? You have it so easy."

"That's hilarious, Rage was right you're a riot." Raven laughed for what seemed like ten minutes before she continued, "I'm beginning to realize that fearing a part of myself is very stupid just because I'm half-demon that doesn't make me evil. But its hard to reconcile this revelation with what I was told as a child who was raised by pacifistic monks; I was born evil and that I must never give into my demonic side. Bullshit pure unadulterated bullshit, sides. Let me ask you something, what exactly makes a person good?"

The waterbender went to speak but she paused, thinking back to when they'd all met Hama; she was a sweet little old lady who turned out to be a waterbender. Hama had taught her so much about using waterbending unconventionally and she'd believed that Hama was a good person. Until Hama forced her to become a bloodbender. "I can't say. There's no way of knowing if a person is good or not. I mean if I'd only saw what you'd done on Kyoshi to that pirate and left before seeing you heal Ty Lee..."

Raven nodded, "You would call me evil and a monster, though that still happened but it was more out of envy rather than your firm belief that I am an evil monster."

"Wait. You're afraid of yourself? But you don't act like it." Her mind was reeling from the events of the last couple of weeks, one could forgive her for not keeping up with the conversation. "And you think your evil?"

"My father was created from the hatred and anger of an entire race of people, those pacifistic monks, the very same people whom raised me were responsible for my unfortunate existence. But it didn't stop them from trying to convince me that I should be a meek mild-mannered pacifist like them. It was doomed to failure from the start though because of who my father was. Yes I think I'm evil. I'm the spawn of Trigon the Terrible. How could I not be? You saw what happened. It doesn't matter that that bastard was a child molester and a rapist. I could have done any number of other things to him, to get my point across."

Here Raven allowed her demonic traits to manifest in full; her other set of eyes, her birthmarks, and her horns. " _ **I reveled in his terror and I enjoyed breaking him. Yes I was doing it so I could help save those people but I feel such self-loathing every time I let loose. I gave into the desire to dominate and destroy because I wouldn't have been able to live with myself for letting Ty Lee die. At least not when I could've ended the conflict swiftly and bring her back from death. If I were too afraid to do what need's to be done more people would have suffered. Therefore I embrace what I am, I become this evil creature that I hate, for the sake of others.**_ "

"That's what a good person is, they make the harder choices presented to them." Like many times before, Raven was shocked at people's non-reaction to her demonic nature, it was a disturbing trend.

"You could have saved her, you know."

The waterbender looked at Raven like she was crazy. _All things considered she probably is crazy._ "Excuse me?"

"Ty Lee. You could have saved her by using your bloodbending, first to stop the bleeding, second use waterbending to cleanse the blood she already lost of impurities, and third put the clean blood back into her body. Though you'd probably have to have someone sew her lacerations closed just to keep her alive until you could heal her properly." Raven said, impressing the waterbender as she shed a much more positive light on Hama's technique. But there was one single flaw.

"But it wasn't the full moon. I can't bloodbend at any other time." Katara's dismay wasn't funny but Raven couldn't help it nor did she have the energy to keep her soul-self under control. As the air filled with floating rocks Raven said, "I've studied many different abilities for various reasons, not the least of which being that I have a lot of them. What I've come to understand about any given ability is that its limits are only created by the person with it. For example, there's Toph, everyone before her had said that earthbenders are incapable of bending metal; yet she figured out how. I'm sure a prodigy waterbender like yourself will be more than capable of bloodbending at other times before too long."

"Okay I can see its benefits for healing people but what about in a battle situation?" The waterbender grudgingly promised herself that she'd start experimenting with bloodbending and healing to further improve upon the art. But she was still hesitant to utilize it outside of the healing pools.

"Its your last resort in a battle of life or death. Use other means to protect yourself but if lives are at stake embrace bloodbending and use it to your advantage." Raven's words were simple but gave the waterbender an awful lot to think about.

"Let me put it this way. If one day you have children and you are the only thing between them and certain death..."

"Bloodbending it is." _She couldn't possibly know..._

The two fell into, perhaps the first, a comfortable silence as they watched the rocks float lazily through the air. Katara was trying to wrest her mind into some semblance of calm when a thought struck her.

"Raven," When the aforementioned attention was on her, "you happened to have kept that sword?"

"On your left."

Sure enough when she looked, there it was in all its shiny-spacey glory resting innocuously on the sand. "My brother's going to flip when I deliver it to him. He gave up looking after months of not finding it."

"So I couldn't help but overhear you talking with Gar...um what's Black Magic, the Brotherhood, and whose Robin?"

"I'd rather not have this conversation more than once. Let's head back to camp and I'll give everyone a debriefing." The waterbender nodded and braced for another onset of black to invade her vision. But when she risked a glance at Raven, she was surprised to see her walking along the beach towards their camp. It could have been a trick of the light and shadows but she saw Raven stumble and immediately felt guilty for starting a fight with the half-demon.

* * *

As soon as they had reached camp Katara was faced with a moderately smug earthbender, "So did Nightmare wipe the floor with you?"

"It was a draw." With that the waterbender moved past a stunned Toph, who was instantly on her heels asking for details, and toward a very nervous looking Aang. Meanwhile Iroh had been silently observing his friend as she settled by the fire and stared into the flames. When Toph ran out of questions to ask and when Aang was reassured that Katara wasn't hurt, their attention shifted to Raven.

"Katara, in order for me to properly explain what Black Magic or rather who Black Magic is...there's something that you, Aang, and Toph need to be aware of concerning Gar and I. We were not born in this dimension." Total silence other than the crackling of the fire greeted her words.

"The spirit world is another dimension within this world. We do not come from there either. Iroh was the first person from this world that I met and he's been a good friend to me. The reason why I'm helping Azula is because of the kindness he showed me when he found me, unconscious, in a crater. I crash landed here and believe me when I say this, that's tame compared to what has happened to me before. Iroh is also aware that me and Gar are a part of a group of powerful people who help others. Often protecting the powerless from others with powers similar to bending but very different and these villains use their powers for selfish reasons.

About two years ago an organization of villains known as the Brotherhood of Evil began targeting the next generation of superheroes, not just me and my friends. But all of the teenagers around the world with unique abilities. We managed to stop them. But another organization, the Justice League stepped in and made assurances about keeping them locked up. They failed big time. The Brotherhood, along with a few others, escaped and somehow managed to travel to another dimension. And for the past eight months I've been trying to find the Brotherhood but I only just received confirmation that that is who I'm supposed to be trying to locate."

"Does your presence here mean that the Brotherhood is here?" Aang asked sharing a worried look with Katara, who fought down the urge to place her arms around her waist. Aang and Katara wanted to wait until after they informed her father and her brother that there would be a new addition to the family in roughly nine months, before they told anyone else.

"No. I came here after demanding some R&R from our team leader, Robin. The Justice League were giving him a heard time and trying to see if he wouldn't heap more pressure on me to search two dimensions a month. I'm one of the few people among those of my dimension who can easily travel between dimensions. However Robin doesn't take chances with our safety and has enlisted the help of our night patrol team, codename Black Magic. He's sending them as a just in case the Brotherhood shows up or is here." Raven could feel the disbelief from Aang, Katara, and Toph, she didn't blame them but it was refreshing that their disbelief wasn't negative or condescending.

_[And I don't need your quick fix, I don't want your prescriptions, Just 'cause you say I'm crazy, So what if I'm fucking crazy? Yeah, I'm gonna show you. Loco, maniac, sick bitch, psychopath, Yeah I'm gonna show you, I'm gonna show you, Mental out my brain, bat shit go insane, Yeah I'm gonna show you]_

"So what's this I hear about you and Grass stain bullying poor boy blunder into giving you time off?"

"It's not my fault you guys were off on a 'super secret mission' that was need to know only and therefore couldn't witness said bullying."

"Well the boys really wanted to give Blood his due but we receive a distress signal from the Tots. Don't worry they're fine. But Giz and Big M wanted to stay and help the monks shore up the defenses, X, Kyd, and I helped Melvin train that overgrown pincushion of hers into a total bad ass. Anyways why aren't you here on Kyo-whats-it?"

"I'm on vacation and I'm doing a favor for a friend." Raven's tone was a little harsh.

"Easy. I'm just curious is all. And why do you have your 'I just resurrected someone with extensive injuries from the dead' skin tone and exhaustion? I though this was R&R?"

"Ask Gar. Is there a reason for this call, other than to announce your arrival?"

"Yes, the boys said to say hi." Raven suppressed the urge to reach through the screen and strangle Jinx. She was about to shut the communicator when Jinx's face grew serious, "The boys didn't want me to say anything because they don't want to upset you. But its my call as leader, and well I still care about you. We couldn't find Blood. Me, Giz, and Kyd suspect that he's the one who freed the Brotherhood. Big M and X don't buy it. Oh yeah I brought those two with us. One of my hunches."

Raven shrugged personally she had nothing against either of them, Kyd Wykkyd had been a victim of Blood just like Giz and Big M, but Robin drew the line at Red-X joining the Titans unless the thief agreed to give up the suit. Naturally Red-X than became an out of sight, out of mind member of Black Magic. "I'm sure Gar is glad you brought them."

"Nope he just shook his head and mumbled 'not nearly enough'. Anyways you look like hell go get some more sleep." With a jaunty wave and a smile that would give the Joker pause Jinx's image on the communicator's screen faded to black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ****  
> _Important notes: The name Black Magic is from Silently Watches's story Coincidence and Misunderstandings on FF.Net (Story # 8236816). Go read it, it is awesome. No it isn't a crossover but Silently Watches does have crossovers too, which are fantastic. Yes I have permission to use the name.  
>  Songs by order of appearance, Control by The Birthday Massacre and I'm Gonna Show You Crazy by Bebe Rexha_  
> 


	8. First Impressions

**Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender or Teen Titans. I own only the plots/situations/ideas that I have place the characters in and my OCs**  

* * *

**The Fire Nation, Caldera City, Royal Palace; Night**

* * *

Six formless shapes weaved through the shadowy alcoves as they avoided the patrolling imperial guards. They had just managed to leave behind most of the guards when their cargo started struggling. One of the shapes had to fight the urge to curse out loud. "Nar, shut that brat up. If she makes anymore noise..."

"She's sick. I told you we should have taken the boy but no, you said she'll be easier." There were times when he wanted to strangle this crew member but as it happens they were brothers and that was, unfortunately, not an option.

"And I told you that the job details specified that we were to take the girl and..." He trailed off as a pillar of flame appeared at the other end of the hallway; the pillar slowly morphed into an armored soldier, made entirely of fire.

"Is that a spirit?" At that the fire soldier disappeared from view before reappearing in front of his brother, he was frozen in place as the fire soldier lifted his brother into the air and threw him into the nearest wall. A resounding crack echoed and his brother slid lifeless to the red tiles; his throat was as red as the floor. The fire soldier moved forward and reached for his brother's stunned partner, her clothes were on fire the instant that the fire soldier's hand brushed against her. Again the soldier turned and gazed with sightless eyes in his direction

"Boss what do we do?!" He was jolted from his paralysis at the shout.

"We finished the job." With that he motioned for Nar to pass the princess to him, even if she did decide to breath fire at him two could play at that game, as they tore down the hallway without looking back. If they had, they'd have seen the fire soldier flicker out of existence. The corpses of the two criminals wouldn't be found for another hour.

* * *

**Royal palace; the Fire Lord's private rooms; Night**

* * *

"What did the healer say?" His question went unanswered for a moment longer as she finished pulling the brush through the last strands of her ebony hair. She set the brush on the vanity and slowly turned to face him.

"She can't fire bend at all until the last of her fever is through. And we'll need to keep her room as cool as we can."

"That's it?" he said in disbelief. It'd been a week since their daughter's fever had developed into Sun Spot, a disease that can turn deadly if it wasn't caught early.

"Zuko, she'll be fine. We got her treatment early enough."

"No we didn't or she wouldn't be blind right now." He said.

"For the last time, she is going to be fine. Blindness is one of the symptoms and a minor one at that." It was slight but it was there and if he hadn't heard it, he wouldn't have believed it. In a split second he was across the room and pulling her into his arms.

"You're worried."

A nod was his answer. "I'll have the postmaster send the fastest messenger hawk to find Aang and Katara. If she can't do anything for Lil than no one can."

The two stayed like that for a while longer before attempting to sleep but neither found that they could sleep. The doors to their rooms flew open as several imperial soldiers barraged in. "Fire lord Zuko, forgive the intrusion but princess Lily has been kidnapped. Two of the criminals are dead. But we've found no trace of the rest of them."

The fire lord and lady were alert within seconds of the captain's announcement and without wasting any time, Zuko started issuing orders, "Captain I want this palace locked down, and then send a messenger hawk to every outpost in the city, the surrounding towns and villages on the outskirts of the caldera, and send a hawk to Republic city, Aang and Katara should have reached it by now."

As the captain bowed and left to carry out his orders, Zuko turned to address Mai but she was already gone; he glanced toward her weapons drawer, it was empty. _She's probably going to protect Rook._

* * *

"Lord Zuko, the avatar's sky bison was spotted by the look outs. They estimate his arrival to be ten minutes." General Shen was out of breath as he'd run all the way from the postmaster's offices to get the message to the fire lord as fast as possible. Zuko was already out the door and heading to the courtyard where Aang liked to have Appa land. _Aang must have flown through the night or something happened that forced him to stop before he reached Republic city._

He wasn't the first one there but the sight that greeted him warmed his heart a little, since Lily's disappearance sometime in the night. Mai had Rook with her and the both of them were standing unnaturally still while scanning the sky for the Avatar and his bison. He made his way over to them and tried to stand still but he gave up.

"Zuko." The way she hissed his name forced him to give her his full attention.

She gave him that pointed look of hers that was, in his opinion, sharper than the knives she carried. "You are pacing and its starting to give me a headache."

"Sorry. But I wish they would land already. For all we know Lily could be dead." He wasn't handling any of this very well. The years after the war were hard for them but the one thing that made everything worth it was Lily and Rook but with this latest situation, he could feel himself starting to lose it.

"Not if I can help it." Time seemed to slow as her voice filled the air in the courtyard. In the silence you could have heard a pin drop as the soldiers shifted their attention to a woman wearing a black cloak with a gold dragon on it. However it was the clasp on the cloak that drew the attention of the fire lady. Raven counted the seconds in her head, it only took three, for her to almost be bowled over by the astonishment of those gathered. "I'm not Mai's long lost sister. Now who's Lily?"

Her question went unanswered for an eternity before the fire lady snapped out of her shock and said, "Our daughter, she was kidnapped sometime last night. Normally it wouldn't be a problem but she's sick and because of her illness she can't use her bending nor can she see; one of the disease's symptoms is blindness."

"Describe her." The gathering of guards were still trying to wrap their heads around what had happened and who the strange woman was, the fire lady on the other hand was unflappable. But Raven could sense the tension and worry that the other woman felt.

"Black hair, big for her age, she's 7, she has a birthmark on her face that looks like the clasp on your cloak, and she's really pale." As she'd had described Lily to the strange woman, her thoughts were in overdrive. _Why does she remind me of Azula? She even radiates pure malice like Azula had. I'll need to keep an eye on this one._

The fire lady wasn't the only one whose thoughts were racing.

_'That's odd.' Intelligence was quite puzzled about the birthmark._

_'Birthmarks are always odd. They don't always have sinister connotations.' Intelligence was nodding but Raven was experienced enough to know how stubborn Intelligence could be at times._

_'We have more pressing things to be focusing on.' At this Intelligence locked eyes with her mistress. 'You're right. After we find the girl we'll be having words with Mai.'_

Raven nodded in agreement with Intelligence, neither of the two saw the flash of a crimson cloak as they parted ways.

She easily assumed the lotus position and intoned,"Azarath Metrion Zinthos."

Those gathered were uneasy as a black spirit like being separated from the woman and vanish into the air, despite the noon day sun shining brightly.

A loud bellow stirred the royal family and their small contingent of guards into motion as they made room for the Avatar's sky bison to land. The first person to dismount was a rattled Toph and as she impacted with the ground she was proclaiming that she'd never, never, ever leave it again. Immediately following her was Aang and Katara. The last person to climb out of the saddle was the fire lord's uncle and was the first person to notice Raven.

"Nightmare what was so important that you flew off like that? Nightmare?" Toph rose from the ground and as she did so she turned to pin lord sparky with a fierce glare, that promised pain. "Lord sparky what did you do to Nightmare?"

"N-nothing." He hated that Toph could still make him stutter like that. "I'm assuming that Nightmare is the woman who just showed up out of no where and started asking questions. She just said weird words and we saw a black spirit leave her body."

_Why is she using her astral projection? Is she in the spirit world again?_ These thoughts were shared by the four of them but it was Katara who spoke first, "What's happened?"

"Princess Lily was kidnapped last night and she's contracted Sun Spot." Mai's voice was neutral as she gave an explanation.

"First Kyoshi and now this, she's pushing herself too far." The waterbender suddenly found herself nose to nose with Mai and as those amber eyes bored into hers, "What about Kyoshi? And who the hell is she?"

Katara waved for Aang to stay back. "Ty Lee is fine and her name is Raven. She's using astral projection to try and locate Lily."

Mai took a step back but there was disbelief visible on her face, as well as Zuko's as he said, "That's impossible."

Katara recognized what the problem was and with a sad shake of her head, she shrugged and stayed silent. _Raven is nothing like Azula and is one of the most selfless people you will ever know._

* * *

The fire soldier had dogged them all night and each of them were the proud owners of new burn scars that would make Fire Lord Zuko look dashingly hansom. As it was they hadn't even managed to escape the palace yet. Jorjun was beginning to regret the shady job that he'd accepted but the price had had him salivating at retiring from the game. Now though...

"Boss, me and the boys were talking and we have a plan." He motioned for her to remain silent as he saw a flash of black and gold. _It's just a fluttering tapestry. This palace is riddled with those things._

"Kuutak's gonna get you." He jumped a foot into the air as the brat had been chanting that all night in a sickeningly sweet sing song-y voice.

* * *

_'So much for taking it easy. Wasn't this supposed to be our vacation?' Intelligence groused to herself._

_'Any vacation time we had got shot to hell the moment that Iroh asked for our help.' A maniacal laugh echoed around them at her statement._

_'You've been dying to use that since Kyoshi, haven't you mistress?' Both Happy and Raven shared a grin while Intelligence groaned._

_'Oh come on madam Snark...please?'_

_With a put upon sigh Intelligence said, 'Everything went to hell in a hand basket.'_

_'That's the spirit.'_

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos"

Darkness and unnatural cold was all that Zuko, Mai, and Iroh knew for a couple of seconds before another courtyard came into view. Mai was trying to suppress the shivers that the cold left her with as she heard, "Surrender or else."

A mirthless laugh filled the air. "Try anything and I'll silt the princess's throat." The kidnapper had a knife held to the princess's throat to get his point across.

"Now me and my crew will just be on our merry way." _Where did they come from? First it was that fire soldier and now the fire lord, the fire lady, the dragon of the west, and some other woman show up out of thin air. I shouldn't have taken this job._ Jorjun gave himself a shake as he edged himself and his crew around the the royal family. He made it to the other end of the courtyard but just before he'd be free and clear, the princess suddenly vanished from his arms.

In the next second he heard a series of cracks and he collapsed to the ground writhing in agony. "Hey boss wha-" Nar was cut off as she saw the woman from earlier rise out of the ground, holding the princess. Before the three kidnappers could do anything they found themselves suspended in the air.

"It rubs me the wrong way when children are involved." As Raven spoke her soul-self reacted by sending the three criminals flying through the air, skipping them across the ground like one would rocks across the surface of a pond. With each impact the ground cracked and a muffled whimper of pain escaped from the three of them until they landed in front of Zuko, Mai, and Iroh. It was at that moment that the imperial guards burst into the courtyard and surrounded the strange woman, who they saw holding the princess.

"Let the princess go." The guard followed this up by sending a fire whip at the woman, while being mindful of the princess. His face went white when his fire whip was dispelled by the cloak and then he was forced to dodge a fire whip of black flame.

"Don't do that again."

"Enough! Stand down." He was still in a state of shock as he moved toward the strange woman, who'd just thrown three people around like they were nothing.

As Zuko drew level with the contingent of guards and the woman he was surprised when she bowed, the way she did it was unusual but it seemed respectful. "Fire Lord, Fire Lady. My name's Raven. I apologize for not introducing myself earlier. But in my line of work, I've learned that it's best to move quickly in situations like this."

"Thank you." Despite the sincerity in her tone, Raven could sense the fear coming off of Mai. "Allow me to take Lily off your hands. She needs to take her medicine."

As Raven shifted the girl in her arms so she could hand her off to Mai, an intense burning pain shot through her and she dropped from the air. She reacted on instinct and absorbed the burning heat into herself. With her last conscious thought Raven used her soul-self to get the princess on the ground unharmed.

The royal family and the guards watched as the princess opened her eyes. Their golden hue was no longer dull and the surrounding white wasn't bloodshot. A grin spread across her face as she ran straight to her mother, "I can see and it doesn't hurt anymore."

During the heartwarming family reunion, Iroh had rushed forward to prevent Raven from hitting the ground. He was concerned about her and how far she was pushing herself.

"Captain Rojo," At his voice the captain's attention was drawn to Iroh, he wasn't the only one. "Find Master Katara and bring her to the infirmary."

The captain saluted and hurried off to carry out the retired general's orders.

"Uncle what's going on?" His question was ignored as Iroh headed in the direction of the aforementioned infirmary. It was then that Zuko saw what happened to Raven after she'd rescued Lily. The royal family and the guards set off after Iroh.

When Zuko drew level with his uncle he said, "Uncle is she going to be alright?"

"I don't know. But as to your other question, my best guess is that Raven healed Lily." His uncle's voice had an edge to it, it was the coldest reception that Zuko had ever gotten from his uncle before. The rest of their journey to the infirmary was in silence, a very uncomfortable one.

Katara, Toph, Aang, and Rook who was accompanied by a guard were waiting for them outside of the infirmary. As Katara directed Iroh to place Raven on a bed she said, "Do I even want to know?"

"She stopped four kidnappers and healed the princess."

"How could she have? Sun Spot can't be healed instantaneously and unless I'm mistaken that's what happened." Katara could hear the subtle inflections of emotions in Mai's tone nor was it quite as flat and dead as she remembered. _Compared to Raven, Mai's voice is practically teeming with emotions._

"I wouldn't have expected such a reaction from you, Mai. Raven has no obligation to you or the Fire Nation, yet she still did everything she could to help you. If she were conscious right now, I doubt you'd even thank her." Katara said as she drew water from the skin on her back and got to work on assessing Raven's injuries.

"That's easy for you to say. You and her are friends." It was faint but Katara could detect emotion seeping into Mai's voice. _How dare she speak to me in such a manner-_

"Ha," The waterbender's laugh was the most self-deprecating thing that those gathered had ever heard and served to cut through the fire lady's thoughts. "More like she and I have come to an understanding. I get it though, she reminded me of Azula too and I didn't think much of Raven agreeing to help Azula with her issues at Iroh's behest. But I learned that she's better than Azula even on her worst day. She even brought Ty Lee back to life and if you don't believe me, ask Aang, Toph, and Iroh they were there too."

Zuko's head snapped up as he heard both his sister's name and his uncle's, a fierce glare was directed at his uncle; whom met his eyes without flinching. "Uncle is that true?"

"I will keep my promise no matter the consequences." He was forced to look away from his uncle, least he did something stupid like break out the shackles then and there. With effort Zuko focused his attention on Katara as she worked on Raven.

"Your friend's on a fool's errand uncle, Azula will never get better. But I won't stop her from trying. When she is able, I'll have General Shen take her to Crescent Isles." Zuko said as he turned on his heel and left the infirmary, taking most of the guards with him.

Once the waterbender was satisfied that Raven was fine as far as she could tell, she said, "She's healing at alarming rate and the Sun Spot isn't slowing her down at all."

"How is any of this possible?" asked Mai, trying and failing to keep her emotions out of her voice. _This is ridiculous not even Azula could unsettle me this much._

"Sunshine," Toph paused for dramatic effect. "How is Avatar Twinkle Toes able to bend all four elements, making him the most powerful bender in the world? And the same goes for every bender in the world. How are we able to bend the elements? Is it really that much of a stretch that Nightmare is capable of mind-boggling things?"

"When you put it like that, no." Mai said in answer.

Not long after this Aang, Katara, and Toph left to go unsaddle Appa and get some sleep as the three of them planned to stay in the Fire Nation for a couple of days.

"Lily, Rook," When both children were looking at her she continued, "Its been a trying day for you. Why don't you have Janlei take you two to your rooms to get some sleep?"

"Ah do I have to. I want to wait here until she wakes up, so I can thank her." Before she had finished speaking Rook was nodding in agreement.

"It will be some time before Raven wakes up and you'll want to be well rested for when she does, don't you?" The two children readily agreed to their one and only great uncle's suggestion. They were practically dragging poor Janlei with them as they left.

"Do you think its wise to allow her to help Azula?" Her question surprised him.

"I think she is the only person who can help her. As Zuko refuses to see reason and transfer Azula back to the capital." Mai's response was a nod as she departed from the infirmary. _I may not like it but Iroh's right, Zuko's too close to the situation._

* * *

"I find it interesting that someone who can do the impossible has such a weak constitution." As she had spoken the fire lady observed the woman on the bed, whom had been unconscious for two days.

"A person with Sun Spot has a fever so severe it can turn the person blind as it attacks their body's chi making it feel as though a fire is raging through it; if I had not healed the princess, she'd be blind." Mai was taken aback by the emotionless flatness of her voice. _Is that what I sound like to people?_

"To your first question yes you do. To the second, I don't heal like a waterbender does. The methods I use are quite different and by that I mean that I absorb the pain of the other person's injuries. Or the entire illness, if I haven't encountered it before," Raven heaved a sigh as she continued, "I can feel other people's emotions. No I can't read your mind."

"I spoke with Iroh about you. The little that he told me said a lot, probably more than he intended to reveal. You and Azula frighten me, that is not an easy feat to achieve. But where you and Azula are different is you care about compete strangers. I do apologize for my reaction but as mother its difficult to be rational when your children are in danger." Raven felt how genuine her honesty was, it was refreshing to say the least.

"I wouldn't know. I have only ever met my mother twice before I left home." Raven said with a tension in her voice that made the fire lady very uneasy.

"I was wrong. You are just like Azula, you have the same family issues too. Except for what you did for Lily. Azula would never do that not unless there was something in it for her."

_'Huh.' Intelligence whispered as Mai spoke._

_'What?' The yellow cloaked emotion was jolted out of her daze._

_'Just something I need to think on a bit.' At the un-amused look on her mistress's face the emote elaborated further. 'Its just a hunch and you know how I feel about discussing those...'_

_As Raven turned away from Intelligence a red mist invaded the library, it went unnoticed because unlike the other times before; the red mist simply drifted through the air getting breathed in by the sole occupant._

"I'm not going to take your word for it." Raven watched as the fire lady's left eye twitched and her hands clench into fists.

"Why not?"

"Because you're a selfish bitch whose sole concern is for herself." A grin stretched across Raven's face as she sat upright on the bed. Her grin widened at the growing fear in the room.

"I've read many things about the war. But the one thing that stuck with me was what you did at the Boiling Rock. You were Azula's friend. She was yours."

A nod was the only answer that the fire lady could give.

"But you were just there because she was fun. Things were never boring around her and you willingly went along with anything she ordered you to do. Like a good soldier should...that is...until Zuko came back into the picture," She took a moment to collect her thoughts. "You betrayed your so called friend who was there for you in her own way, no matter what. You were more than aware of what her father would do to her once he found out about the _**public embarrassment**_."

The fire lady heard the cracks before the glass windows shattered. And every where she looked there was glass suspended by that eerie inky black.

"You know what I finding interesting? Its interesting that you and Ty Lee are still alive and well. She could have killed Azula. One wrong pressure point and Azula, princess of the Fire Nation is dead. It makes one wonder what Azula did to, as they say, get you and Ty Lee a stay of execution?"

Mai was looking rather pale even more so than normal as she stared straight ahead, not deluding herself in thinking that Raven was finished.

"You're thinking about it now aren't you? If Zuko's pretty face is anything to go by... Than Azula's punishment was far worse. Yet she still fought for the very lives of her only friends even after they both betrayed her. No. After they destroyed her."

When Mai made to speak she got as far as opening her mouth a little than she closed it as she heard, " ** _You are more monstrous than your friend was. And had your positions been reversed I don't think you'd have done the same; you wouldn't have fought for your friends. So if its all the same to you please do not assume what Azula would or would not do for another if given the chance._** "

All at once the room was a blur of black and blue. When the fire lady could see the infirmary; none of the windows were broken. She barely registered the sound of approaching footsteps from behind her.

"Its good to see you up so soon, Raven. Princess Lily's been worried about you." Iroh said as he took a seat next to a deathly still Mai. When Lily heard her name she hid behind her brother, not wanting to be seen by the woman who'd saved her just yet.

A small smile tugged at the corner of Raven's mouth as she watched the girl hide behind her brother. "Where I come from we have birds called ravens. Many cultures believe that a raven is an ill omen and are often associated with death. But ravens are really smart and very misunderstood."

"Why are you telling me this?" Lily's voice was quiet and she was still hiding behind her brother.

"Because your birthmark looks like a raven as its taking flight." Raven's answer drew the girl out from behind her brother, allowing Raven to get a better look at her. Unsurprisingly her skin was pale, hair black as ink, and eyes of gold.

"Really it does?"

Raven nodded. "Yes. I'll get you a book on them, if you want?"

The princess's way of answering her was very unique and certainly unexpected for all but one of those gathered. But much to the fire lady's shock, she watched as the terrifying woman burst into laughter as Lily tried to squeeze the life out of her.

"Its what I do. I help people in need." A moment or two later and the princess leapt off the bed and started running for the exit. As she passed by her brother she tagged him and said, "You're it."

"Lil! No fair!" He yelled at her retreating back before he took off, hot on her heels. The two had barely vanished from sight through the infirmary doors when Raven said, "I received a mission that involved children, a giant invisible teddy bear, and a french gorilla; big hairy animal with human intelligence. On that mission I learned that I'm actually really good with children. Now I require even more sleep before I'll have the patience to deal with people, bodyguards following me around, and arguing with Fire Lord Zuko. And to his utter misfortune just so happens to reminds me of my boss."


	9. Ashfall

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Important NOTES!**
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>  _When you get to the Italic sections in this chapter remember any_ un Italicized words _are the characters thoughts._

**Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender or Teen Titans. I own only the plots/situations/ideas that I have placed the characters in an my OCs.  
**

* * *

   **The Fire Nation, Royal palace; Early morning**

* * *

"Where exactly are you from?" His question had no visible effect on his Uncle's friend. _That's her sixth steak. How can she stomach that much blood?_

Frustratingly he saw her wave his question off. "Here and there. And blood is a dietary requirement in the aftermath of extreme use of my abilities." This too was frustrating for the fire lord. Her propensity to read minds, her claims against doing that weren't very reassuring for him.

"You won't be able to help Azula." He said in the hopes of dissuading her of her fool's errand. He should have known it wouldn't work.

"You're interfering again, fire lord."

"Azula deserves to be locked up." He sighed and shifted in his seat, trying to get comfortable for the ensuing argument. "There's no point in reasoning with you, you'll never understand, could never, understand what it was like to have a malevolent spirit for a sister."

"She's manipulative, controlling, cunning, blood thirsty, terrifying, excessively violent, and doesn't possess a single ounce of empathy for others." She paused to burn his astonished and gobsmacked expression into her memory. "Trust me I do understand."

It took him a moment to snap out of his speechlessness as he watched her devour another steak. _That makes seven._

"Are you always eating like this?" He asked curiously. He was still a little distrustful of Raven despite learning why she'd collapsed four days ago.

"Not very often. After today I doubt I will eat much of anything because I won't need too." She answered him automatically. He really did remind her of Robin. But back when the team was just starting, back when Robin made bad judgment calls.

"I was wondering, how do you plan on helping Azula?" Up until then Mai had been silently enjoying the show. It wasn't every day that Zuko was needled relentlessly by someone who wasn't her.

"Its difficult to say," Raven took a sip of tea attempting to stall for a few more seconds. "I'll need to taste her insanity with my empathy. That will be my starting point for her treatment."

"Why not just use your healing ability?" The fire lady would be lying if she said she wasn't confused that Raven wouldn't just start with that.

"That is not an option. Physical aliments yes, an unstable mind, no. If I did just waltz in and wave my hand in front of her, curing her instantly...she won't learn anything. Whose to say that she won't fall back into the pit of insanity again? She needs to face the problems that pushed her that far in the first place." While the two royals wrapped their minds around her answer, she grabbed another steak from the tray that sat in front of her and started in on it.

The fire lady could detect a dark undercurrent in Raven's tone as she spoke. _I wonder if she's experienced insanity on the same level as Azula._ Before she could voice her question, the dinning hall's doors burst open and a guard captain hurried into the room.

She bowed low and didn't wait for permission to speak. "A mayday from Obsidian Island arrived by messenger hawk five minutes ago. The report is of a unique creature ransacking the villages and towns there. 28 people have been killed, 16 of them were soldiers and 12 were non-military firebenders."

Almost before the captain had finished speaking, the fire lord was already at the doors, issuing orders to the guards at the entrance of the dinning hall, "Find General Shen and tell him to ready four hundred of his best men, they'll be flying for Obsidian immediately. Their orders are to bring the creature down by any means necessary. Captain Rojo," The captain was before the fire lord in a flash. "Draft a message to Admiral Kozen, she's to take her fleet to Obsidian and evacuate the citizens. Then place the island under quarantine until whatever this thing is, has been neutralized."

_'A unique creature? Plasmus or Monsieur Mallah. It could be either of them.' The sheer anticipation in Courage's tone was expected._

_'Either way, a lot more people are going to die.' The green cloaked emote's enthusiasm deflated a bit, her mistress sounded bone weary. They'd be accompanying General Shen and Admiral Kozen to Obsidian._

Almost as if he was reading her mind, Zuko turned to face the occupants of the room, but his attention was focused solely on her. "Your assistance won't be necessary, Raven. I have the situation well in hand. Besides I believe your reason for traveling to the Fire Nation was to help my sister."

"If you're sure?" She asked having no desire to force the issue and if she were honest; she didn't have the energy to expend even after four days of rest.

"Quite. General Shen will take you to Crescent Isles before he continues to Obsidian." With that he turned and proceeded out the door.

* * *

**Crescent Isles, Port Shiver; Three hours later**

* * *

Her first experience with the asylum staff left much to be desired by Raven. The man that met her and General Shen at the port was as repulsive as he was rotund. His voice was like gravel and it was headache inducing, "Do ya honestly s'pect me to believe that this 'Raven' woman was sent by the Fire Lord to treat his bat shit sis?

The surly general shoved the fire lord's letter at the doctor as an answer. As soon as the letter was no longer in his possession, the general spun on his heel and marched past Raven. Heading directly for his waiting airship.

While the asylum doctor was engrossed with the letter, Raven decided to familiarize herself with, what she believed, was going to be her place of residence for some time; Crescent Isles. There was vegetation everywhere she looked, trees, flowers, and vines hanging off of the houses that dotted the mountain side. What she didn't see was the Asylum itself. But she could feel it, as wave upon wave of emotions crashed against the shield she used to temper her empathy; lest she be a liability in a fight. Desolation, rage, anger, hatred, apathy, pain, uncertainty, and terror were the strongest of them that threatened to drown her in their ocean.

"Yer already lookin' pretty green there and despite what this says," He shakes the letter in front of her face. "I'd bet you never even set foot in a madhouse 'fore today."

She jerked back from his proximity and growled low in her throat, feeling very much like a cornered animal. He laughed, at her reaction and then tucked the letter into an inner pocket. "Easy little girl. Don't mean to offend ya. And that was the fire lord's imperial seal and orders are orders. Come on and we'll get cha settled in."

For such a plump individual he was fairly swift and it was then that she saw the narrow path in between two of the houses to their left that he was heading toward. She followed silently in his wake hoping to avoid any conversation. She'd never taken such an immense dislike to a person within such a short time before, not even Terra inspired this much malcontent; not even after she betrayed the Titans to Slade.

Her hopes for avoiding conversation were dashed fifteen minutes later as her guide piped up with, "I don't know what ya think yer gonna be doing with the princess but whatever it is, it ain't happening soon. Sun touched as she is, her royal highness suffered one of her episodes yesterday and will be unavailable 'til she's calmed some."

She gave him a thoroughly un-amused looked and gestured for him to continue.

_'He's good at lying but not good enough.' Intelligence was smug as she deciphered the man's lies. 'And this one he's got down to a finite science.'_

_Raven nodded in agreement.'Tell the others that we're going on the unofficial tour tonight.'_

_That brought the emote up short. 'Are you serious? I thought we decided...'_

_'You said it yourself, he's lying and I don't have a very good feeling about him. He reminds me of Dr. Leads from Arkham.'_

_At this any further protestation on Intelligence's part died swiftly. Dr. Leads was responsible for one of the worst mass patient escapes from the Gotham based asylum in its entire history. So much so that Batman requested their help because Dr. Light had been transferred to Gotham and Batman wanted to meet his apprentice's team. To say that that had been an eye opening experience is an understatement. Though they were leery of meeting another member of the Justice League. In the end they gained a potential ally._

"There it is; Ashfall." His voice was entirely too smug as he grabbed a unlit torch from a barrel that was full of them. "Course this place was cleared out by a couple 'o lavabenders after Roku bit the dust. Fire Lord Sozin wanted a place to put firebenders that were Sun touched with them never coming in direct contact with the sun. It took forty years into Fire Lord Azulon's reign to get the caldera and the lava chamber to a point so folks could live inside 'ere."

After he got the torch lit he gestured for her to follow him down the stairway set into the side of the caldera. "Only the staff for the madhouse and stationed guards are allowed into Ashfall. The other islanders are family of the staff, they grow food and other necessary materials to keep this place..."

Raven was barely paying attention to his prattling as she directed her focus to the shadows far below them. More specifically the asylum. The entire structure was black with an arched roof that was eerily reminiscent of Japanese architecture. Two massive dragon statues sat to either side of the building's entrance, almost like they stood guard. The sheer number of windows was staggering and what was worse was the fact that none of them had bars to prevent the patients from escaping.

"Huh, you did pretty well for yer first time on the stairs. Most docs are horribly coddled and collapse half way down." She gave him a flat look. "Right, yer sharing with the new blood that we got on staff 'bout two years ago. Least til I have a chat with the boss and if he's feeling generous maybe you'll get a place of your own."

With that he held the torch up and led her toward a cluster of buildings on the far side of the asylum. They passed several buildings in various states of repair before stopping in front of a small two story house that looked better than the others that they passed.

As her guide brought his hand up to knock, the door swings open and Raven saw the person she'd be housemates with. The woman wasn't very tall but strangely, had fire filled dark blue eyes and unnaturally pale skin. Long black hair framed the woman's heart shaped face that was currently wearing the meanest scowl that she had ever seen.

"Jang I thought I told you to stay the hell away from me."

"Still playing hard ta get eh?" At that the woman made to slam the door in his face but he stopped her. "Now, now, there's som'un whose 'ere to fix her royal highness."

_Her eyes are purple...and she's hot. Damn...deep breaths Zen._

"Jang you can go now." Her tone was filled with ice and she glared at Jang's retreating back. Neither one of them spoke until they couldn't see the light of his torch anymore.

"Jang's an ass. I doubt he even introduced me. I'm Zen Ji its nice to meet you." Zen said while stepping aside to allow Raven to enter.

"It's Raven." She said as soon as she was inside the house.

"That's an unusual name. Are you from somewhere in the Earth Kingdom?"

With her back to Zen, she sighed and closed her eyes. "Somewhere yes. You seem very nice and I do find you attractive but I'm still trying to move past my ex."

She heard Zen wince. "That obvious then."

"I'm good with nuance." A laugh sounded behind her and before she knew it Zen was in front of her with a wide grin stretched across her face.

"You'd have to be. I'm as smooth as they come. But I understand some people leave their marks on you. So friends?"

"Friends."

"Alright enough excitement for now. Follow me and we'll get you settled. Is Jang bringing you, your stuff later or...?" Zen asked as she made her way down the hall to a flight of stairs.

"Or am I carrying it in a dimensional space that happens to be located in my head." Raven saw Zen falter on the top step and almost topple backwards but at the last second she managed to correct her balance. Zen's eyes seemed to bore into Raven's.

"When you know more about me that will make a lot more sense."

"I'll take your word for it." Zen shrugged and led her to a black and red door half way down the second floor's hallway.

The room was a lot bigger than she was expecting. It must be half of the entire second floor. The walls were dark red with black hardwood floors. There were a couple of light gray rugs spread throughout. A massive bed was positioned in between two just as massive windows, curtains hung to either side of the windows. Other than the bed and rugs, the room had a vanity, wardrobe, and sitting area with two comfy arm chairs and a low table in between them.

"I was just about to start on dinner when you and Jang arrived, I'll call you down when its ready. If you need anything don't hesitate to ask. With that she turned and exited the room but paused just outside the door, "Oh and welcome to Crescent Isles."

* * *

_'Azarath Metrion Zin- ompff' A blur of hot pink engulfed her as she materialized inside the library. Before she could do anything to retaliate another pink blur slammed into her from her other side._

_'Told you I'd give you two hugs when you got here mistress.' A band of yellow energy peeled the two apart as Raven dragged herself up from the ground._

_'Time to Rock 'N Roll!'_

_'Candy!' Not the least bit cowed by madam Snark the pink emote was busy zipping around the meeting room bursting with enthusiasm._

_'Happy just watching you is making me tired.' At this the emote abruptly stopped in her tracks and hung upside down in the air, her cloak was an inch from the ground._

_'Guess I got carried away.' Grumbling and snickering erupted around the room as the others heard Candy say this._

_Once everyone settled down as one they intoned, ' **Azarath Metrion Zinthos.** '_

_Their soul detached from their body and the world shifted. When they used astral projection inanimate objects turned opaque and semi solid, colors were lighter shades, and her empathetic and psychic abilities were twice as potent._

_Her tour would begin on the top floor and she'd work her way down. The first floors were plain and held the least number of patients. As she got nearer to the ground floor the rooms were a little different and more patients were in them. It was when she reached the ground floor that that wave of emotions from earlier hit her again; desolation, rage, anger, hatred, apathy, pain, uncertainty, and terror. She was drowning in them and it took all she had to fend them off until she felt the tugging. When she focused on it the emotions intensified turning her vision black._

* * *

**_Azula age 5_ **

* * *

_Perception in darkness was something that she was very familiar with and it was this familiarity that allowed her to hear the patter of rain. She opened her eyes slowly and found herself in a place she didn't recognize. She swept her eyes around the area hoping to determine where she was. There was nothing but rain and a black sky. Before she gave in to her frustrations a flare of bright red at the edge of her vision caught her attention._

_As she moved in the direction of the red flares, she saw eight hazy figures standing around a flat stretch of ground, strategically positioned throughout the area and the two figures in the center of said area._

_"Azula." The voice held a harsh edge and very little patience._

_"Yes father." Her voice was a whisper among the rain, the voice of a child. Moving closer still the hazy figures were suddenly lit up by lightening as it snaked across the sky. What she saw stopped her cold. Azula looked no older than five. The same age that she was when the monks of Azarath began forcing her to lock her emotions away._

_Azula shifted her stance and rapidly moved through a series of punches, kicks, and flips. But with each successive motion the flames were still only bright red. While Azula was focused intently on her movements, Raven saw her father's face contort as the flames burst forth. It wouldn't be long before he snapped. "My patience is wearing thin Azula! You will produce blue flames on your next try or I will fire whip you until nothing but black scorch marks remain on the paving stones in this courtyard."_

_Azula flinched and bit back a complaint. "Yes Father."_

_The princess halted her motion and took seven measured deep breaths, coaxing her fire chi back into order. On the seventh exhale bright azure flames spewed from her mouth executing a master level technique Dragon Breath. Azula held it for four seconds before her exhaustion overcame her. Prince Ozai rushed forward and scooped his precious daughter into his arms, a proud smile on his face. "Daddy's so proud of you. You're nothing like your mother or that weakling of a son of mine."_

* * *

**_Azula age 7_ **

* * *

_The shadows crept in on Raven and momentarily turned the world dark once more. In the next moment she had to blink bright spots from her vision to bring the world back into focus. When her eyes adjusted to the light she found herself in a garden. One of the royal palace's gardens. There were too many gardens for her to narrow down which one it was but the one she found herself in; had a huge pond with turtle ducks swimming on the surface in a lazy circle._

_"Princess I'm sorry. It will never happen again." The terror filled plea's source was a palace servant whose lungs were on fire as she ran through the garden. The servant was followed into the garden by Azula whom was a little older than she was previously._

_"Oh you're sorry," A laugh rent the air as the princess pushed herself to run faster. "You'll be even sorrier when I set you on fire!"_

_At the other end of the garden, the servant pushed uselessly against the locked door. "Dead end for you. Ready for a lesson you won't soon forget?"_

_The servant girl was quivering where she stood, despite being seven years the princess's senior. The princess huffed petulantly at the servant and created a fire dagger in one hand. "You're suppose to say yes Princess or no Princess. Don't they teach you peasants any manners these days?"_

_"Yes Princess and no Princess." The servant couldn't believe that the princess's face could get even more irritated, it did._

_"You're not supposed to answer rhetorical questions..." Azula sighed. "Both of those were rhetorical."_

_With that Azula closed the distance between them and was just about to touch the bright red dagger to the servant's skin when her arm was torn away from the other girl's skin. At this the servant collapsed to the ground in relief at being rescued, she hoped._

_"Azula!"_

_"Yes mother." Her tone was pure innocence and honey._

_"Don't you 'yes mother' me."_

_"She deserved it. She's the reason why I'm late for training with father."_ She's see what happens when I'm late every day and she makes promises she can't keep. _The princess can't quite bring herself to voice those words but she knows her mother wouldn't believe her._ She never believes me.

_"And burning her is the solution? Maybe keep better track of the time." Here Lady Ursa paused and let out a frustrated sigh, "Go. Just go to your room. I'll be speaking with your father about this mark my words Azula."_

_Head held high and walking like every bit the princess that she is Azula left._ Father will pretend to be angry and agree with you, but what he's really saying is that he's proud of me.

_"Are you alright Shong?" Ursa's tone was gentle as she pulled the girl up from the ground. Unknowingly the two were being observed by Azula._

_"Don't trouble yourself over me, milady. I'm f-fine. The princess is who you should worry for." She wasn't injured but she was shaking very badly, despite that Shong managed a winning smile that only felt a little forced._

_"My own daughter has a monstrous side to her personality and its as bad as her grandfather's is. But right now I'm worried about you, a loyal servant, whose been scared half to death by one of my children." Her words were kind and helped still the tremors in Shong's body but for Azula hiding in the shadows, they cut like a fire dagger going straight to her heart; no one saw her tears as she ran for her room._

* * *

**_Azula age 13_ **

* * *

_Flashes of red and the sound of clanging metal drew Raven's attention and as a much older Azula came flying past her head, the garden was replaced with a flat expanse of stone._

_A low hiss escaped Azula as she rolled to a stop on the ground in the training yard._ My head feel's like its been split open.

_"Your right side reflexes are still too slow." His reprimand did little to encourage the princess whom was making no effort to stand and address him._

_"I understand father. Do you have time for another match or is Admiral Zhao hounding you for another war council meeting?" The steadiness in her voice betrayed nothing of the pain that she was in._

_"No. Unfortunately I have granted that fool one more chance to convince me. He's been laboring under the delusion that he holds the key to the Northern water tribe's demise. I am tired of his repeated failures. If he presents a feasible plan in today's meeting I will assign him command of a fleet to finally take the North. Should he fail I may have to send someone who can get me results." The fire lord signaled to his guards and as he left he said, "When I return I want to see improvements in your reflexes on both sides."_

_The princess was on her feet faster than he could blink and bowed low. "Yes father."_

_As soon as his intimidating presence disappeared the princess's legs gave out and she hit the ground for the second time that day. But this time she didn't bother trying to quiet the grunts of pain. Every bone was sore and every muscle ached. She heaved a sigh as she watched the clouds drift by._ All day every day its the same thing. Faster, stronger, hotter, higher, and repeat. Training. I wish Ty Lee was still here. If she was things would be a little more bearable.

 _Anything less than perfection on her part was dealt with harshly; intensive personal training sessions._ When I break and its only a matter of time before I do, a lot of people are going to burn or die, I haven't decided yet. Perhaps I'll start with the cruel ones that make promises that they have no intention of keeping.

* * *

**_Azula age 14_ **

* * *

_CRACK_

_The world turned white as a bolt of lightning sailed through the air. Thunder echoing loudly around the semi-lit underground cavern. A kaleidoscope of emotion swirled through the air, as she saw a boy with arrow tattoos fall to the earth. Before he hit, a wave of water washed the scene away. Replacing it with another eerie scene that was all to familiar for Raven._

_Azula lay, tossing and turning on a mattress mumbling about something._

_"You can't be alive. I killed you. Zuzu wouldn't lie to me. You're not real. You're not real. You're not real." Azula's voice rose in pitch and oozed pure terror as the avatar appeared in her nightmares, alive._

_"Father I didn't fail you. No, please no. Stop, its Zuko's fault he's-" A scream tore from her throat as tears streamed down her face._

_The door to the room opened by an unseen Dai Lee agent as he saw the approach of the princess's friend. When the acrobat crossed the threshold, the door was shut. Ty Lee ran for Azula._

_"Zula! Wake up its just a dream." There was no visible change in Azula. Slowly she reached out to rouse her thrashing friend. The moment her skin made contact with Azula, the princess grew unnaturally still._

_"Zula tell me what's wrong."_

_As soon as Azula heard her speak the acrobat found herself being pulled down onto the bed and being squeezed to death._ It must have been a bad one for her to react like this. _The acrobat had to fight back a laugh as the situation dawned on her, the princess was latched on to her like she was a stuffed animal. But considering what she knew of Azula's life, it shouldn't have been that funny._

_"I k-keep seeing the avatar's face as the lightning hits him etched in agony; I can still hear it, the crackling. He never goes a-away." Ty Lee didn't have to see Azula's face to know that the princess was crying, she felt the tears on her neck._

* * *

_Night changed to day as several dozen figures surrounded the three of them. "I will deal with this myself. Leave us."_

_"But princess-" A blue fire ball slammed into the prison guard with enough force to knock him to the ground. Immediately the guards holding Mai released her and dragged their unfortunate comrade with them as they made themselves scarce._

_"I should have expected this from you." Her voice was cold and dripping venom but beneath it all, was fear. But Mai wasn't as good at reading Azula as Ty Lee was._

_"Tell me why," Nothing but silence hangs in the air after she says this. So she's lifts her head up and locks her gold eyes with Mai's amber ones. "why would you do this to me. You're not stupid surely you know the consequences..."_

_Mai's countenance shifts and she readies for the attack that is sure to follow Azula's whispers. But instead of flames Azula just glares._

_Eyes narrowed to mere slits, Mai says, "I guess you just don't know people as well as you think you do." She watches Azula intently waiting for the right moment, when she see's it, and with a smirk on her lips, she goes in for the kill. "You miscalculated. I love Zuko more than I fear you."_

_In a haze of pain the princess falls to the ground. She barely heard herself telling the guards to lock Mai and Ty Lee away as Mai's words echoed all around her._

_"You miscalculated, I love Zuko more than I fear you. You miscalculated. I love Zuko more. I pick Zuko. Zuko." Mai's words were like a rock covered fist to her face._

* * *

_The crackling and heat of a wall of azure flame obscured the view of a figure on the throne. "None of them could be trusted. Sooner or later, they all would have betrayed me. Just like Mai and Ty Lee did."_

* * *

_"What a shame, you always had such beautiful hair."_

_"What are you doing here?"_

_"I didn't want to miss my daughter's coronation."_

_"Don't pretend to act proud. I know what you really think of me. You think I'm a monster."_

_"I think you're confused. All your life you used fear to control people. Like your friends Mai and Ty Lee._

_"But what choice do I have. Trust is for fools. Fear is the reliable way. Even you fear me. Fear is all I know."_

_"No. I **Love** you, Azula. I do."_

_Before the apparition of her mother had finished speaking her lower lip started quivering and as her head sinks lower tears escape from behind closed eyes. Her knuckles pop as her grip on the brush turns them white. And when the pain begins to suffocate she throws it with all her might, hoping to toss away her pain as well. A rain of fractured mirror fragments fall around her. The shattering mirror is drowned out by her sobs as the pain intensifies._

* * *

_A self satisfied smirk played across his scarred face as his smug voice carries across the empty courtyard, "No, lightening today. What's the matter afraid I'll redirect it?"_

_Psychotic laughter sounded and sent chills up both Zuko and Katara's spines, "Oh, I'll **show** you lightning."_

_The ominous static crackling is heard and the motions of her arms generate enormous trails of electrical sparks. There's a brief pause as a grin reminiscent of the Joker's crawls across Azula's face. The boom of thunder pierces the air._

_Eyes wide Katara watched transfixed as the bolt of deadly energy raced for her heart. Suddenly, impossibly she watches Zuko intercept the bolt of light. "No!"_

_It hit's the tips of is fingers mid leap. A blinding flash of light and Zuko crashes to the ground grunting in pain._

_"Zuko!"_

* * *

_She'd never known water to burn before but as the water turns to ice, it does. She's helpless in the block of ice and watches as her opponent chains her hands together. Once the chains are secure she's shoved painfully into the metal grates of the canal. And for the first time she shivers but it doesn't register as blue-white rage explodes across her mind._

_Blue fire spews from her mouth like it would a dragon's, she directs the flames into the air and at the ground, hoping to quell the helplessness, despair, confusion, shame, humiliation, pain, and rage surging within her; all that's left is the aching emptiness, that's always been there. With the last dregs of her energy spent she lands on her side, tears cascading, sobs being torn from her throat._

_Both Katara and Zuko walk away from the pitiful sight. As they walked away neither heard her speak, "Why couldn't anyone love me? Why couldn't mother love me? I-I'm not a monster. I'm not a monster. Not a monster. A monster. Monster…"_

_The tugging sensation pulled Raven from the maelstrom of images and emotions into a world of dreamless sleep._

* * *

'I thought I told you not to damage her. And what did I say about taking it slow.'

'And I've told you that we don't have the time to play nice.' The bickering sounded oddly familiar to Raven but she was still too out of it to place it. 'Need I remind you for the thousandth time that without me you'd be dead.'

'Oh my apologies princess Void. I shan't forget my place again.'

Before princess Void could speak further a voice cut across them.

"Why does my head feel like its on fire?"

'Because someone thought that you should take the scenic route.' It was then that Raven shot bolt up right and launched herself into the air. She was in another garden but the grass was red and the water in the pond was black. There were red, black, and white flames everywhere she looked.

A whistle from below caught her attention and when she glanced in the direction of it she saw two armor clad figures staring up at her. 'Impressive but perhaps you could come down here and talk with us.'

With little choice in the matter Raven slowly lowered herself to the ground. About half way there she caught sight of her cloak and was shocked to see that it was white. With a wave of her hand the cloak flew through the air and attached itself to her as it settled on her shoulders her powers pulled the hood over her head. When she landed on the ground she turned to face the two soldiers standing to her left. Her suspicions were confirmed."You're Azula's sub-conscious."

The black and red armored Azula took several steps back and took a few deep breaths. 'Agni you sound like Mai. Rage won't like that at all.'

'Ignore this one. She's grumpy that Azula is still out of commission and that she has to fend off the invaders.' Unlike the other emote, the white armored one stepped closer to her. As the emote did, Raven saw how fragile and loose the armor was.

"I take it you're Affection then." Stiffly the emote nodded. Raven held up a hand to stop the emote from venturing even closer. "I'm Raven. I can't help you like this. A mind is dangerous especially when it doesn't belong to you."

'You came to help us but you can't, how in Agni does that make sense?' The emote was exasperated but Raven felt off about this whole situation.

_'How did she pull us into her mind?' Raven's question was met with a lack luster shrug from Intelligence._

_'Check back in a week. We're still processing Azula's memories just go along with it. There has to be a reason for our situation.' She wasn't happy about it but she knew better than to go against whatever brought her into Azula's mind._

_'Mistress we need to-'_

_'Not now.' Her mood was soured immensely by the turn of events and she could not focus on more than one crisis at a time. Whatever her emotions wanted would have to wait for later._

"I will assist you with the subjugation of your mind. The imbalance that I felt inside that roller coaster ride from hell was the worst I've encountered before." Raven braced herself for the collision as Affection rushed at her. "However once you've found and freed Azula, the fight is yours and yours alone."

'What exactly do you plan on doing?'

Raven gently disentangled herself from the white emote and turned to face Azula's sub-conscious. "I have a palace to lay siege too. Untold rage with be unleashed upon whomever sits on the throne."

Both Affection and princess Void stared in disbelief as the white cloaked Raven walked up the steps that lead into the palace proper.


	10. Shifting Fortunes

**Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender or Teen Titans. I own only the plots/ideas/situations that I have placed the characters in and my OCs.**

* * *

**The Fire Nation, Boiling Rock Prison; Early morning  
**

* * *

**Warden Goji**

His hand was frozen in mid-air above the door, he wasn't sure why the warden wanted to see him this morning, it was unsettling to say the least. He took a calming deep breath and knocked.

"Come in, Ji." With a moment of hesitation he stepped into the spacious office and stood at attention.

The warden waved him to a seat. "None of that formal nonsense. Tea?'

All he could do was nod at the warden's offer, he was sure that he'd throw up if he had to speak. Once a steaming cup of tea was set on the table he watched the warden sit and take a sip of his own tea.

"I'm sure you're wondering why I've called you in here."

"Yes sir." Ji congratulated himself for speaking without a shake in his voice, now if he could just get the rest of his body to obey.

"I'm retiring in two weeks and for the past month I've been deliberating over my replacement. Do you have any suggestions?"

_Why's he asking me? Surely he isn't thinking of...no, no, don't be stupid. I was transferred here two months before the war ended. I was part of the former fire lord's military. The same fire lord that I have to feed three times a day._ With this at the forefront of his mind Ji spoke, "Ronin. He's calm under fire and put a stop to last week's riot single handedly."

"Ha," Of all the possible responses that he knew the warden could have given to his suggestion, a snort wasn't one of them. "He's too green for running this place. He may have been warden material for the capitol's prison but the Boiling Rock is were the hardened criminals are sent."

"Hmm...what about Su?" At the warden's flat look Ji shrugged. "I have no other suggestions."

"Modest, keen intelligence, a competent and advanced firebender, and leaves others with a healthy respect in the aftermath of tricky situations. Not to mention experienced with the fickle nature of royalty," Ji was staring open mouthed at the warden, whom was smiling, "Congratulations Warden."

After the warden's announcement and once the last of the papers were signed making Ji's promotion official, he left his future office with a permanent smile on his face. _Nothing could possibly bring me down today.  
_

* * *

**Midday**

* * *

Ji was white faced as he frantically re-counted the prisoners in the exercise yard but no matter how many times he did, he still came up short. _I just had to jinx myself._ "Tei, Su!" At his shout the two guards came running. "Initiate lockdown."

"What why?" It was the larger of the two guards that asked. Before Ji could tear into Tei, Su grabbed his arm and pulled him along. "Obviously a prisoner is missing."

It wasn't long after those two had left before Ji waved over Ronin. "Where's Ozai?"

"He should be in the yard..." Ronin trailed off as his eyes swept the yard but after a couple of minutes Ronin begin looking in earnest for the former fire lord. White faced and shaking he turned back to Ji. "We need to go check his cell."

The two took off running for cell block B as if they were being chased by a rhinoceros boar. Four minutes later they entered through the doors and tore past the guard on patrol. "Hey what-"

He stopped as Ji and Ronin threw open Ozai's cell door. Ji wasted no time and ran to the other end of the row of cells to the emergency bell and pulled. He rang three times in short succession.

"Ronin what the hell man?" The guard was confused and walked over to the shaking guard captain. He wanted to be sick, Ozai's cell was empty.

"Ji, what's going on?" The guard whom was supposed to be patrolling the cell block winched at the warden's tone. He did not want to be in Ji's boots just then.

"Warden, Ozai is missing."

"Great spirits! Ji, Ronin, and you," The warden pointed at the guard who jerked at this but stood at attention. "All three of you are to assemble three twelve man squads and search this place from top to bottom. Every storeroom, broom closet, and laundry room."

All three of them saluted and took off at a run as soon as the warden was finished issuing orders. The warden released a frustrated breath and quickly went to help get blocks F and G locked down. _Great this is just what I needed, two weeks before retirement. Fire lord Zuko isn't going to be happy about this._

* * *

**The Fire Nation, Obsidian Island; two hours after the attack  
**

* * *

His face was a blank mask as he gazed at the destruction around him. There were chunks of stone and blackened wood everywhere, the stench of smoke clung to the vegetation, and pools of melted flesh dotted the ground. It was as he turned away from the destruction that his eyes saw the bright yellow rock amidst the debris. As he moved closer to exam the it, a spark of recognition passed through his mind. A smirk played across his lips as he scooped the device up.

"Admiral Kozen," He waited for the Admiral to turn to face him. "I leave the clean up to you. I've uncovered evidence of foul play and must report back to the Fire Lord."

He didn't wait for acknowledgment as he had very little time to waste. It was time to go forward with their plans. But first, he had a little bird to torture.

* * *

**Kyoshi Island  
**

* * *

Suki felt as though everything was spiraling beyond her control ever since the attack. The village elders wanted her to step down and nominate a different warrior to lead but neither Zu or Dai would accept the position until Suki offered it to them. They'd said as much when elder Kintosi suggested that at the island summit; even the other groups' commanders threw their support behind her.

As if it wasn't bad enough that her sex life was dragged through the muck, the other village elders proceeded to assail the decision to create a statue of Raven as they weren't their to witness her defense of the port town. And lastly they questioned her decision to allow Gar and team Black Magic to help said port town to rebuild. It was a very trying island summit.

All she had wanted to do after the grueling three day summit was cuddle with Ty until early morning patrol would separate them. But it wasn't meant to be when she glimpsed Katara standing on the outskirts of the village. She was tired, hungry, and in no mood to put up with whatever it was that the waterbender wanted. As her and her two lieutenants drew closer to the waterbender she was reminded why, Zu was her best friend,"Just say the word and I'll knock her lights out."

"Me too."

She smiled weakly at the both of them. "I appreciate the thought guys but I'll handle it."

When they finally reached the waterbender, Zu and Dai slowly continued past her, Suki had stopped a couple of feet away. Unfortunately for the other two warriors the waterbender waited until they were out of earshot before addressing their leader.

"When Sokka told me you were pregnant, it was the happiest I could ever remember seeing him. For a while after our mom died I was afraid that I would never see him truly happy again, until he met you." Katara held up a hand to stop her from speaking. "And then when the twins turned three he told me that he left you. At first I was shocked but he never could fool me. The moment I saw his face I knew it was you. You were responsible for the break up even if he was the one who broke it off. Believe it or not I wasn't upset, not really, I was amazed at how you put up with him for so long. I was content to leave you alone but then I saw you with Ty Lee. Still you had every right to pursue who you love."

At the astonished expression on her face, Katara laughed. "In the South its not an issue. But in the North well...this is another reason why there are two water tribes."

"Anyways like I said, I wasn't upset but then I learned about the laws on Kyoshi regarding people like you; they make sense. It seemed to me like you just strung my brother along to satisfy Kyoshi's laws. That is why I was angry with you. I apologize for making your life difficult, I had no right to do that." She watched as Katara began walking away.

"Katara wait," When the waterbender's attention was on her, she asked, "What brought this on?"

Katara's smile was disarming and wistful. "Raven. She's made me rethink some hardwired opinions that I had. I had thought that you'd just used Sokka but when I thought back to the family get togethers, you were happy at first but over the years I saw how miserable you became. You were finally starting to accept that which you denied about yourself. But even then you stayed with him until he let you go. My anger was misdirected and misplaced, its society's fault that this all happened. You're a person who's been forced to live in denial, shame, and self-loathing; no one should have to live that way."

She raised a disbelieving brow. "I can't forgive everything but I can be civil with you for Sokka's sake."

"I think that's my line." They both broke out in laughter at that. The two of them felt at ease in the other's presence for the first time in a long time.

"So how long will you and Aang be staying?" The waterbender flinched at the question.

"Toph expressed her desire to meet team Black Magic after Raven mentioned them. Aang and I planned on continuing to Republic city but Jinx complicated matters."

"What?" She was unsettled at hearing both Jinx and complicated in the same sentence.

"Apparently she can bend earth and air." If anything she was even more disturbed at the waterbender's revelation.

"And Aang offered to train her." At Katara's nod, she released a weary sigh. "On the bright side, you can do an assessment on Reina and Zhaji's waterbending."

* * *

After the attack and the Summit she mistakenly though that they could relax...the morning after she returned with Elder Kintosi, Gar wanted her to call a meeting in the dojo. This is how she found herself standing white faced, watching as Gar transformed into a hulking creature and easily wrestled with Big M, Kyd, and X.

"This is what Monsieur Mallah is, a silver back gorilla. Capable of snapping you in half like a twig. Mallah is no simple minded animal, he's smart and the jar of Grey-matter's mode of transportation; translation he's trained to to take a hit. If ever you find yourself faced with him, attack from a distance and don't let him hit you." As Jinx finished Gar landed a hit on Kyd, he was sent flying into the wall on her left, she felt his impact in her bones, he lay unresponsive on the ground.

"Any questions?"

"Why is this relevant? Its not like this Brotherhood is here or anything." Suki suppressed the urge to growl at the new girl as she stepped away from the wall and gestured to Jinx to let her handle this. "Its not relevant."

There were sharp intakes of breath from the assembled warriors and one deep grunt from Gar at her statement. Suki locked eyes with him then with Jinx before her attention returned to the warriors. "And it may not ever be relevant. But I would rather we know what to look out for then be caught off guard. I would rather be able to assist the Dragon Lady and her friends if the Brotherhood does show up then be yet another helpless non-bender that they have to protect."

Suki's eyes found the new girl's. "So sit down, shut up, and pay attention. It may just save your life one day."

"Continue the lesson, Jinx." With that she stepped back to observe the rest of the demonstration.

* * *

**Earth; Undisclosed Location.  
**

* * *

He was dizzy and nauseous as he tried to shake the disjointed images from his mind. "Where am I?"

"You are no longer a prisoner of the Boiling rock, Ozai." Ozai jerked his head in the voice's direction and couldn't make sense of the sight that greeted him. An unnerving gray object was floating in a jar of luminous green liquid and was attached to a column that give the gray thing the illusion of having teeth. _Agni what did the guards put in my food this time._

_"You were not drugged."_

He jumped out of his skin and started looking around, in an attempt to find the origin of the voice. He refused to believe that it had been in his head. Before long he gave up. "Why am I here?"

"You've survived a battle with a god like being. Very few can claim a feat such as this." This voice was like dust and paper to him but unlike the other voice, he spotted the wizened old man sitting in one of the room's corners.

"What do you want from me?" He sighed in resignation. _I guess there's no use in demanding answers as I am at their mercy._ He let out a mirthless self-deprecating chuckle. "I'm afraid that you've wasted your efforts on rescuing me. I'm not the same man that I once was."

"Very humble of you to admit your short comings." A shudder traveled down his spine upon hearing the woman's unusual voice, he felt a little weak kneed just then. It also jogged a faint memory in the back of his mind but he pushed it way.

"We can help you regain your firebending and your throne." He viciously clamped down on the rising hope that burst forth at that strange gray object's words. "Our assistance has a price.

"Naturally." When he felt the tug at the corner of his mouth, he did little to stop the grin's spread, "No price is too high. I'll do anything you say so long as you can deliver on this bold claim of yours...and allow me the pleasure of killing my worthless offspring."

He watched as the people, who were his allies for all intents and purposes, leave the room with very pleased expressions. _I suppose they expected me to resist them. They'll soon learn that the Phoenix king is no fool.  
_

* * *

**Capitol of the Fire Nation; the Royal Palace**

* * *

Fire Lord Zuko,

The attack on Obsidian has been dealt with. However the unusual manner in which the two creatures disappeared, troubles me. It...it was reminiscent of the way that that Raven woman made you and lady Mai vanish. Now I know you were uncertain about her before but you said that I needed to provide proof. I have found among the rubble a device. The same device that I saw in the woman's possession. In light of what we know about her abilities I believe that she had a hand in what happened.

I'm returning to Crescent Isles to detain her. I will torture the information out of her if I must. I hesitate to suggest my theory, knowing as I do how touchy the subject of your sister is, I theorize that Raven's offer to help your sister was false. Her true objective was the attack on Obsidian.

If this attack was her intention and doing, I fear that your family maybe in danger and well, I think she's done something to your Uncle. I implore you, keep him under guard at all times. I would be able to focus on my task if I know you are safe Lord Zuko. I fervently hope this is a misunderstanding but if it isn't...  
I was further distressed to spot a messenger hawk pass by us a few days ago. It came from the direction of the Boiling Rock. Now that I'm thinking on it, Raven could have orchestrated the attack on Obsidian while she broke your father out of the prison. Rest assured I will get answers out of her Lord Zuko.

General Shen

Fire Lord Zuko,

Your father has escaped. Its like he simply vanished into thin air. Admittedly it was only during the midday head count while the prisoners were out in the yard that we learned that he was missing. My replacement immediately had two guards initiate lockdown while him and another guard ran for Ozai's cell. His cell was empty and the door was intact. There was no trace of him. We even questioned the other prisoners including any whom were in contact with your father in the last few days. He was still inside the prison when the early morning head count was conducted.

I had the prison searched from top to bottom before I send this hawk to you, after all I didn't want to alarm you and then find him elsewhere in the prison. Further more I sent other hawks to all ships and ports to be on the look out for him.

Warden Goji

"Captain Rojo." His voice was level but as he turned to face the captain, she saw the rage in his eyes. "I want two full contingents of guards watching my uncle's every move. He's no longer allowed outside of his wing of the palace and if he attempts to leave. You are to confine him to his rooms where he will then remain under lock and key at all times. Send Gozan to prep an airship."

She bowed low and left at a run. As soon as he was alone the letter from the prison was a pile of ash. _First I will get her to scream and then_ _I will teach her what the wrath of a firebender does to skin.  
_

* * *

 


	11. Descent Into Madness

**Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender or Teen Titans. I own only the plots/ideas/situations that I have placed the characters in and my OCs.**

* * *

**The Dragon's Lair; Azula's mind**

* * *

There was no light but somehow the shadows danced along the walls and when they did the rattling of chains echoed, drowning out the steady drip of water. The absence of screams, moaning, and whispering filled the cruel silence of this dungeon; no other prisoners were inside it as far as she knew. She loathed the silence that descended upon her from time to time as that was when she found herself in this place. But she's had no one to fill the silence, a silence she wrought upon herself, for a long time; she was used to its suffocating grasp.

Solitude was never far out of reach and perhaps she'd always longed for it but never did she want it to ache or pain her. It's how her current state came to be. She took ragged shallow breaths that breezed through a curtain of matted filthy hair, that she once was proud of. If one felt brave enough to wade through the glimmering darkness and reach her, they would see the gold eyes of an animal that held nothing but rage and fear within.

Were they to venture ever closer to her, whether to jeer at her or free her they would be driven back by the biting cold that the black bars shed into the air. Even then they would not see the evidence of her tears for she'd run out of them long ago. As her tormentor would be driven back they would see how her captors kept her locked away. The same icy blackness made up the floor where her knees rested, her arms were drawn back and the chains were as taut as a bow string.

As the gravity forces her body downward, the cuffs' edges slice through her skin and the blood pools on the ground. With the slightest touch of pressure to her back, the chains would tear her arms from the sockets. Her agony would be swallowed up by the muzzle she wore, made from metal and volcanic glass, it can be flooded with water and then frozen. It was an ancient technique developed to quell the surge of chi as a firebender's temper ignited and they expelled flame from their mouths uncontrollably.

Her prison rages hang off her frail frame. The bones of her ribs are the most prominent but the rest of her body also resembles a skeleton beneath the dull red tunic and trousers. Her head jerks violently and she thrashes un-heeding of her restraints as her latest visitor speaks. 'This place doesn't have to reflect the torment of your surroundings. Its really difficult to see us this way.'

"What's the matter Ursa? Is this not to your liking? This is your doing as much as it is mine. Is it not enough that I begged you, sniveling on my knees, to stop tormenting me? Of course it isn't. Do what you will for I know that you're just another delusion come to laugh at my expense." The voice was rough and the raspy plea nearly drove her from the dungeon. But now it was no longer about their survival. She stood firm in her resolve and stepped toward their Sifu.

She forced away all the warmth and kindness that she had, she had very little to begin with, and called forth that which pervaded everything in their life; focus. The static that gathered in her body was forced outward lighting the darkness and dispelling the dancing shadows. The prisoner did nothing to avoid the bolt. White hot pain coursed through her but even when it faded; it did not abate, she writhed and twitched in time with her spasming muscles.

In the wake of the pain an ominous symphony of rattling armor approached her.'First you ignore me, then you push me from all conscious thought, and in so doing you've made me the one thing that you still care far too much about. The weakness that you fear is the very same thing that you can't escape from.'

"H-he hurts me if I'm weak." It is surprising how well they can keep the shaking in their voice to a minimum. But she could never fool them. As she swept her sifu's hair aside she placed a hand underneath their chin and forced their head up.

'I may sound and act like our mother. But I am not her as I could never abandon you. My name is Azula, you however, will call me Affection and I'm here to save your pathetic worthless hide.' The emote was shocked at how drastically her words affected their sifu. The chains and muzzle clattered to the floor while the various injures and dirt simply vanished. The last thing to change was the prison rags, they morphed into armor that was similar in style to Affection's, the color and state of it was far worse; a pale gray that was riddled with cracks.

"Where the hell am I?" The rasp in her voice was fading but still easily heard.

Heaving a sigh and trying not to laugh Affection answered. 'The answer should be obvious...' At her sifu's un-amused look the emote elaborated. 'This is our mind or mindscape. At least that's what our visitor called it.'

"Mindscape? Visitor?"

'There isn't time to explain. She's gone to the throne room but Rage is there. We need to gather reinforcements or I fear that our new friend won't make it out of here alive.' Azula felt put off by Affection's presence but she agreed with her, whatever her problems with the emote were she'd deal with them later. No other words were exchanged as they both went deeper into the dungeon attempting to find some assistance.

* * *

**Crescent Isles, Ashfall; Zen's place  
**

* * *

Zen was used to strange and no place was stranger than an asylum, she always prided herself on being able to sleep no matter how trying or exciting things were from day to day. But the unfortunate downside for the waterbender was her ability to be woken by the slightest hint of noise. Because of this quirk she was fully awake when the door to her home was flung out of its frame to crash land on the far side of her living room.

"What in Agni's name is the meaning of this?" Her question was ignored as twenty imperial soldiers poured inside her, now empty, doorway.

"Ma'am-"

"Its doctor." She cut across him. "And I demand to know why-"

"Doctor please silence yourself or I will have my captain do it for you." The owner of this voice stood at the foot of her stairs, she immediately recognized General Shen. "Thank you, doctor."

"Yesterday, around early evening I escorted a woman to Crescent Isles on the Fire Lord's order. But we have reason to suspect that she's involved in a plot to destabilize the Fire Nation and rule of Fire Lord Zuko. Evidence has surfaced that she was directly responsible for the attack on Obsidian. I'm assuming that you've heard of that." When she nodded, looking appropriately appalled, at his statement even though she hated the slimy bastard and didn't trust him further than she could throw him, he said,"Its imperative that you tell me where she is."

 _He doesn't remember me._ At this lucky break, Zen swallowed thickly, what was expected of a fragile civilian, and hating herself for what she told him. "She should still be in her room. Up the stairs and its the black and red door."

Without another word she watched as the general ascended to the second floor while a bad feeling settled over her. _I can't just let him take her._ As she made to follow the general and do something unpleasant to him, the imperial soldiers exited as quickly as they'd entered. The bad feeling from earlier intensified and she bolted up the stairs, threw open the door, and stopped dead inside an empty room. _Its just like that time he took Azan.  
_

* * *

**The Dragon's Lair; Azula's mind  
**

* * *

Her progress through the empty palace that was devoid of warmth and life, was swift and everything was a blur of color. As she came upon two huge ornately decorated doors, they swung open and a blast of hot air rushed from within the space beyond. She did not hesitate to step past the threshold. Once she was inside the doors slowly shut and when the the click of the doors sounded, blood red flames sprang to life halfway across the room, she was bathed in the faint light. Her eyes narrowed to slits and she glimpsed a shadowed figure sitting above her on the other side of the wall of flames.

'How dare you come here? Who are you?'

She remained silent. Silence was the perfect weapon and something she perfected, not out of a desire too, but a need to be. Before long her silence got under the emotion's skin as she heard the smile in its voice.'I frighten you. Which is how it's supposed to be, I am a monster that many fear.'

She did nothing to fight back the words that spilled forth. "I do not see a monster. And I do not fear you. What I see is a girl who wonder's why she wasn't loved by her mother the same way that her brother was. I see a girl whose own father used her and then tossed her aside like a broken weapon. I see a girl that fell to pieces when her friends betrayed her, one for her brother and the other for the friend she liked better. I pity you."

The blood flames grew higher as she'd spoken, as they grew so to did the heat. The intensity of the heat made the stone floor bubble like hot tar. This heat would have harmed most who came before Fire Lord Rage but she simply rose into the air lazily. Her soul-self formed a sphere around her as the fireballs sped through the air towards her.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos." Her tone of voice was lower and slower than normal as she felt her magic responding to the focusing words. When she'd gathered enough magic, she drew the sphere shield even closer to her causing it to begin molding itself around her to from a suit of armor. Another wave of flame engulfed her and as it did, her armor absorbed it. Runes that matched the color of the flames inscribed themselves across the smooth surface as she chanted, " _B_ _eschütze mich vor dem Feuer der Wut mit den Feuern von mir."_

The armor slowly dissipated and as it did, a vortex of flame greeted her. Rage stood in the center. A self-satisfied expression was firmly in place on the emotion's face. She so enjoyed bursting bubbles and with the cockiest bored sounding tone she could muster, she said,"That's it? How...utterly disappointing and here I was expecting a challenge. Its beyond me why the avatar and his friends are so frightened of you, when you can't even singe my cloak."

'Ha,' The laughter started and stopped rapidly in the span of a couple seconds before the emotion gave up fighting it down, the insane cackling reverberated off the walls. But that is not what held her attention, at first she dismissed it as trick of the flickering light but as the emote began to lose their composure...a larger arc of blue static leapt into existence. Her blood ran cold as the static was sent rushing through the air directly at her. 'This is why I am feared. It's not fire.'

The sound of thunder rent the air as the bolt of lightning struck her chest. Arcs of blue dance over her skin as she drops like a stone and crashes into the ground with enough force to break a couple of bones. Her body was numb from the impact and she was hovering on the edge of unconsciousness.

Rage brought her smoking fingertips up to her mouth and blew on them before a lopsided grin stretches across her face. She walked slowly towards the crater where their assailant landed moments before. As she reached the halfway mark, a dragon like hiss stopped her cold. Quite literally as a veritable chill seemed to leech the warmth from the entire room. And she couldn't quite prevent the shivering in her limbs.

_**"Were you trying to kill me?" The voice was like a cold bottomless void of darkness that promised undue suffering.** _

_**And all of a sudden their visitor was standing in front of her and she felt the ever present fear break through and weight down her mind. Before she could speak, pain erupted along her back and as the disorientation faded the emote found herself in a frozen limbo. The ice seeped into the armor then it seeped into her skin, sapping what little strength that her fear left behind. Relief flooded her moments later when the cold receded. Her relief was short lived at what greeted her as she flew from the void.** _

_**The cloak was no longer white but an eerie dark blue and black, which in her mind was far more disturbing then the solid canvas of white from earlier. Their assailant had four eyes with the same color as the cloak. As her body rushed toward their assailant, a black object appears in the air swinging back and forth with very little resistance.** _

_**"Batter up," The object sends her smashing through the doors to the throne room and down the entire length of the entry hall beyond it. "Its a home run."** _

_**The sound of applause shatters the silence of Rage's departure and before she can escape, a green blur knocks her to the ground. 'That. Was. Bad. Ass. I think I love you. Its too bad the others weren't here to see the high and mighty fire lord get her ass handed to her.'** _

Her cloak was slowly bleached of color and once her brain was no longer rattling around her head, she sees that she is face to face with another of Azula's emotions but this one was in bad shape.

'W-ack,' The emotion quickly rolled to the side. Then proceeded to cough out blood and red and black sparks. 'Ugh sorry that's been happening far too often for my liking recently.'

'Who are you?' The emotion asks as they climb up off the floor and offer their hand to her.

"I'm Raven." She takes the emotion's hand and once she was on her feet again, "I'm here to help."

"Like we haven't heard that before." Raven watched as the green emotion jumped a foot in the air and turned, white faced, in the direction of the voice. Raven followed suit and located the speaker.

'I see that Affection succeeded in liberating you from the dungeon, sifu.' The emotion bowed low and went to join the various emotes standing slightly apart from Azula.

Raven noted the varying degrees of damage and injuries that each emotion had. Some were worse than others but Azula was by far the worst off. Her armor hung loosely on her frame and looked far too big on her, filled with large cracks. Vivid dark circles ringed her eyes and Azula's eyes reminded Raven of Robin's; when he'd accidentally inhaled a hallucinogenic drug.

"I've come to help. Whether you choose to believe me or not." Raven said and saw Azula go unnaturally still.

As Azula opened her mouth to respond, another voice interrupted. 'You are so dead Raven.'

Rage's breathing was fast as she staggered past the destroyed doors and into the throne room, another emotion followed her; the emote wore pitch black armor and looked as well as Rage did. All of Azula's other emotes hastily formed a circle around Rage and Fear, halting their progress. When they did so Raven saw that some of the damage in their armor repaired itself. A wave of blood red and black flames flooded the entire circle threatening to overwhelm the emotions.

"I have to trust that you are real, even if you're not. You need to leave, there is nothing more that you can do. This is my fight." A determined focus settled in her voice as she spoke and a wall of azure flames flickered to life in front of the throne. The last that Raven saw of Azula's mindscape as she flew through the blue flames were flashes of blue, red, and black.

* * *

The pain that her body was in was expected but the black sack over her face wasn't the sight that she'd encountered often after an astral excursion. Nor were the chains on her wrists. It took what little strength she possessed to keep her soul-self from reacting and giving her state of awareness away to the people she sensed in the area. She heard the grinding click of the lock as whoever had her, entered her cell.

"We've tried everything to wake the suspect but nothing has gotten a response." The voice sounded young and nervous.

"Did Shen have any success?" This voice caused a strong surge of anger to well up in her mind and the temperature in the room to drop rapidly.

"No Fire Lord Zuko. He left the task of waking her to me and my squad. General Shen's overseeing the study of the device with Soto, he doesn't want to let the only evidence disappear because of Soto's incompetence."

"Do you have a report on what methods were attempted so far?" There was a faint rustle and, "As you can see we've tried everythin-"

"Not everything. Clear the room and ensure that no one disturbs me."

"Yes Fire Lord." The sound of footsteps echoed before the door clanged shut.

All she could hear for a while was Zuko's breathing and as it fell into a steady rhythm. "I need answers. If only you'd have woken up."

"Who ever said that I was asleep in the first place?" She heard his heart rate increasing as she spoke.

"We're on to your games Raven. I wonder if that's even your name... I want to know a few things. Why are you really in the Fire Nation, where's my father hiding, and what have you done to my uncle?"

Instead of answering him she let go of her hold on her soul-self. The black hood obscuring her vision was perforated by five sharp talons and was then torn to shreds. Similar talons made short work of the chains keeping her attached to the wall and as the links of chain fell to the floor, "Normally attempts to contain me are very entertaining and irritating at the same time. The entertainment I derive is the absolute shock on my captor's face when I let my soul-self handle my liberation. The irritation stems from how pitiful the attempts to hold me are."

Zuko's mouth went dry, despite the biting chill in the air that he hadn't noticed until now, as he watched the shadows enclose the entire cell. Heedless of his state of unrest, she continued speaking, "In my travels I've surprisingly gained new insights into how the abilities that I possess work. You see, I was forced into undertaking a mission that I wanted no part of. But as these things usually tend to happen my protests were ignored."

He watched as her eyes turned that disturbing white. Moments later she summoned more shadows to her and then she drew a series of strange symbols in the air with them. Once she'd completed this exercise, he saw a dark blue sphere appear in the air in front of where she stood. Then to his shock she plunged her entire arm inside of it and when she pulled her arm from it, she was holding her black and red cloak.

She set this on the table to her left and repeated the process until all of the possessions that his soldiers had removed from her person were laid out on the table. And to his further shock he saw that she'd retrieved the strange device or the evidence of her guilt. "When a person does not wish to undertake a task but is saddled with one regardless and should the person's can do attitude rise to the surface, you get a determined individual whom starts learning new ways to achieve satisfactory results in half the time. Like allowing my soul-self to maintain a permanent connection to my emotions thus granting it a sentient nature. It is my soul after all and I should be in control of it, most of the time."

He saw a grin on her face as she reached for the bracers, not to put them on, but to detach a large wickedly curved dagger from each one. He saw that the hilts were shaped like black birds, birds his soldiers no doubt thought were solely for decoration. "Of course your Uncle set me along that path six years ago but I'm stubborn when it comes to my powers and learning to embrace them. However, in situations like the one you've just put me in, that connection more than makes up for how much self-loathing I feel when I am faced with my other nature."

In the blink of an eye he loses sight of her and then feels the kiss of ice on his neck. "Give me a reason."

His mind is a fog of pure panic and fear. And suddenly the cell is as it was a couple minutes ago, Raven was still chained to the opposite wall and he was still in control of the situation or was he.

"You have thirty seconds to release me." He was still too shaken to properly respond and once more the shadows freed her. He tensed, waiting for her to start boasting...intimidating...terrifying him. But nothing of whatever vision had crept upon him happened, except the part where she went to retrieve her possessions. This seemed to be his breaking point.

"You will cease this at once." His shout did nothing to halt her progress as she donned her cloak and began strapping the bracers to her arms. The vision of earlier imposed itself over the scene and he saw, to his horror, the bird like designs started moving.

"Stop making them move!" He jammed the heels of his hands into his eyes and started rubbing them mercilessly. Nothing helped. Then he again felt that kiss of ice upon his neck.

"It takes a lot more than chains to keep me, Zuko." The flashes of what he'd seen from before stopped as she addressed him. He seemed to hang on her every word."And even if I could have been in two places at once, which I can't be. How do you explain the attack on Obsidian? I was eating breakfast and getting the third degree from you when the report was delivered."

It took him a moment to realized that she'd asked him to explain one of the inconsistencies, that he somehow overlooked, in his overzealous-ness to find her responsible. "You must have accomplices who carried it out on your orders."

She hesitated but he failed to notice as she returned fire with, "Like I'd need help toppling the Fire Nation. And if this is your smoking gun against me," She was holding the device out to him and as he took it, he thought, _This has... no resemblance to the other device that I saw. It isn't yellow and it doesn't have that T shape on it._ He was jolted from his thoughts. "then my estimation of your intelligence was wrong, as it seems that you don't have any."

His hands were empty but that didn't stop him from closing them, trying to determine if the device had even been real. A low growling hiss brought his head up and he searched frantically for the source, he saw nothing. A pit of unease settled at the bottom of his stomach as it dawned on him as to where that sound had come from.

"My purpose is the same as it was, to help your sister. Not the destruction of your country." She said and debated with herself for a few minutes on if she should say more. "In light of the events that spurred your desire to have this 'conversation' with me, one-sided as it is. I can only assume, seeing as how I wasn't there, that when Plasmaus or Monsieur Mallah began ransacking Obsidian another villain, named Warp, broke your father out of prison-"

"What? So then you were responsible, you've just admitted it." With his mind no longer so out of shorts he interrupted her.

But before he could get too ahead of himself, she said, "I don't even know where your father was imprisoned."

The logic in that one sentence took the wind out of his sails and somewhere in the back of his mind, he heard his father's cruel laughter. The same laughter that was his father's response when he asked after his mother. _She has to be lying. I need her to be lying. She's somehow responsible for everything! Especially how Uncle started supporting Azula's rehabilitation. How he was pushing for custody._

"If you will excuse me. I've had a very trying night and would like to get some sleep." Her voice was lost in the volume of his thoughts and too little, too late he watched as she sunk into a pool of shadow and vanished. As soon as she was gone, the door to the cell flew open and an imperial soldier tumbled to the ground looking dazed. Ten more stood in the hall and to either side of the door wearing confused expressions; they'd been trying to pry the door open for the last hour.

"Fire Lord Zuko," The general's voice would normally have eased any worries that Zuko had when things went wrong but not this time. This time his suffering would never end. _Gone. Hopeless. Ruined. Forever._

"Agni the prisoner's escaped. Lieutenant Tzai organize a search of the ship from top to bottom. Exercise caution as she is very-"

"No." His voice was quiet but firm and even though the general was higher in rank than them, he was not the Fire Lord.

"Lord Zuko?" His voice was tentative as he waved the other soldiers out of the room and closed the door.

"Raven had nothing to do with the attacks, Shen. We were gravely mistaken and we acted rashly." Zuko was still reeling from the entire exchange. She'd just instilled a healthy fear in him. "She could destroy us all." The general staggered back as if struck. "I've been a fool. When we reach the capitol I'm going to inform the rest of my council that Raven is to be treated as the sovereign of a country, a very powerful country. She will be treated with the utmost respect and given the best accommodations within the palace that can be provided."

All the general could do was nod and make reassurances that that was the right decision but he knew that Zuko got like this after a negotiation went south. He would talk about how to make it up to the offended party and that was all this was, talk. Shen knew that whatever had transpired between Zuko and Raven had cost the young leader dearly.

* * *

**Crescent Isles, Ashfall; Zen's place  
**

* * *

Zen was always amused whenever she met someone who thought firebenders were dangerous. It took effort on her part not to laugh at people like that, sure firebenders could breath fire and shoot fire balls at you and their tempers weren't anything to underestimate. But as a waterbender forced to grow up in the Fire Nation, only being tolerated because she could heal and her father was a decorated General, she realized a few things about water. One, it was everywhere, in the plants, in the air, and in the ground. Two, waterbenders could change the temperature of water at will, freezing and unfreezing it. Three, the wrath of a waterbender was to be feared.

 _How could I have been so stupid...I knew that asshole was bad news when he came for Azan. And just like that time, I acted too late to make a difference._ A loud crack was the only warning before the block of ice shattered. She did nothing to avoid the chunks of ice that sped her way. Just before they'd have hit she swept her arm through the air and the cold drops of water peppered her side. _I should have just let the ice hit me. Its no less then what I deserve._

With a sigh she drew the spent water from the ground and her clothes before directing it back into her water skin. Once it was secure she trudged slowly back into the house and collapsed onto the couch in front of the fire place. The fire was just barely hanging on, its flickering light casting shadows along the floor. And with one particularly bright flare the wood collapsed into embers, plunging the room into darkness. Before the light went out, she saw the top half of her door but she was in no hurry to fix it. Its not like anyone was going to try and rob her. _I'll need to get up early to fix it so Jang doesn't come round to help. Right, like I can even attempt to sleep knowing what I've probably sentence that woman to._

These thoughts would plague her all night and not an ounce of sleep was to be had for her. So she sat in the darkness cursing her own foolishness until a muffled thud sounded above her head jolting her into hyper awareness. It was like someone doused her with water to wake her up. Again these series of events reminded her strongly of her friend Azan. _Please be okay. Please be okay. Please be okay._

She made her way up to the second floor and stopped in front of the black and red door. She grasped the knob and opened the door a crack but jumped back when the door was overtaken by the shadows and slammed shut. No matter what she tried the waterbender couldn't get the door to budge. It wasn't until the shadows over the door nearly took off her hand that she retreated and as she walked away the shadows receded from the door.

* * *

She reasoned that it had been her imagination as doors, let alone shadows, weren't capable of maiming people. Regardless of hostile shadows, last night's events plagued her mind as she reached the second floor landing and made her way toward the sentient door. This time she managed to open the door all the way and when no malevolent shadows greeted her she stepped inside. Only to stop short as she saw Raven on the floor.

She rushed into the room and was kneeling next to Raven. "Hey."

She waited and waited and waited but there wasn't so much as a twitch from the other woman. "Come on Raven, wake up."

This time there was a response as Raven rolled away from her. _Well that's something. I shouldn't try moving her as there's no telling what Shen did. At least she's not part metal._

"It wasn't your fault." Raven said having been subjected to a very sharp spike of guilt, that pulled her from sleep.

Upon hearing Raven speak, Zen scrambled backwards and didn't stop until her back collided with something very cold. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a wall of shadows. "Oh not again." She grumbled while preparing to fend off another attack, but it never came.

"I apologize if they tried to hurt you last night." Her eyes shifted from the shadowy wall back to Raven. "I wasn't in a position to control them."

She waved her words away. "Its my fault the soldiers took you."

"They would have found me with or with out your help." Raven's words did little to reassure her.

"Still is there anything I can do to make it up to you?" She asked, although it wasn't the question or questions that she wanted to ask.

"No. Unless you're a waterbender."

"That settles it. There's no way you're from the Fire Nation. Most can tell instantly that my ancestors weren't originally from the Fire Nation; my eyes give the game away. I'm glad that you're not though, you would probably hate me otherwise. Because I am a waterbender. So what need's healing?" Her words were bittersweet and met with silence but eventually violet eyes locked with her dark blue ones. "Four broken ribs."

She nodded and, "Lay flat on your back." _I guess Shen's losing his touch if he only managed to break four ribs._ As soon as Raven was laying flat, she moved the black cloak aside and pulled the strange tunic back far enough to see the deep purple bruising that covered the left half of Raven's upper torso. Her arms were in motion drawing water from the skin she carried.

"Have you ever been healed by a waterbender?" She could tell her question threw Raven off and that gave her all the answer she needed. "Right. Try to keep the shadows off of me while I do an assessment; its going to hurt."

Without waiting for a response she lowered the glowing ball of water and eased it into the bruised flesh. And almost pulled back at the sensation of another person's chi surging against her own; a very familiar person. _Why is Azula's chi present, how could anyone break bones as strong as Raven's are, and where the hell is her neutral chi?_ Even as distracted as she was by the unique turn of events, she concentrated and found in addition to the four broken ribs, multiple bone fractures on the left side of Raven's body, deep tissue bruising, and two large lacerations located near Raven's heart. Finally done with her assessment she drew the water out and placed it inside her water skin. _Four broken ribs was an understatement. I may need to use spirit water for this._

But to her shock Raven started talking her voice full of resignation and a slight shake, Zen didn't know if it was because of how much pain Raven was in or if she was afraid. "I'm n-not exactly human. Last night I w-was exploring the Asylum through the use of my abilities. This specific ability allows me to project my spirit outside of my b-body. My other abilities are strengthened in this s-state." Raven paused as the experience of drowning in negativity coursed through her. "I was drawn into Azula's mind. And fought with the embodiment of her rage. Diving into another person's mind is dangerous. Especially so for the intruder as they are at a disadvantage, no matter how powerful they are. Each mind has its own rules and the first rule is that everyone is their own master. I can not heal any of the wounds I received on my own because I got them from inside Azula's mind."

"You were right." Zen's tone was full of mirth and Raven was really starting to become desensitized to telling people about her origins. "That comment you made yesterday. It makes a lot more sense now."

"Wait, what did you mean when you said that you can't heal any wounds on your own?" She could no longer hold back her burning curiosity, she told herself that she needed as much information as possible for better healing.

"I possess healing abilities as well as..." As Raven trailed off, Zen was struck with inspiration and said, "Shadowbending."

"Close enough."

"I need to get more water. But first I'm helping you over to the bed. It'll be a long session and you'll be more comforta-" She watched, open mouthed, as Raven was swallowed whole by the shadows. She was working herself into full panic mode when, "I would've moved earlier but I didn't want to alarm you."

Her eyes were immediately drawn to the bed where Raven was resting with a small grin on her face. Zen flashed a smile of her own and left to get the spirit water. _I never saw Azan's smile again._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **  
>  **   
>  _So hopefully everyone is aware that Raven is fluent in German...anyways the words she said mean (protect me from the fires of rage with the fires of mine.) If any of my readers speak German, I do apologize for its terribleness but I'm not skilled and Google Translate is the best I've got._   
> 


	12. Darkness Greets You At The Bottom

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> __  
>  **Trigger Warning! Past sexual assault and Non-graphic depiction of sexual assault (Male on Male). Proceed with caution __**  
> 

**Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender or Teen Titans. I own only the plots/ideas/situations that I have placed the characters in and my OCs.**

* * *

  **Nevermore; Pride's domain  
**

* * *

_It was an unofficial rule that when Raven slept she wasn't to be disturbed by anything, especially so if she were in a healing trance. But for once Intelligence, no, they could not afford to maintain radio silence, and loath as she was to get on Raven's bad side again, the others elected her to intrude upon their mistress._

_Contrary to popular belief, namely Raven's, Nevermore was actually a dimension all its own as well as Raven's true home and her mind. Thus a structure existed within, it was hard to decide on what to call it, a mansion or a castle. It was fairly large but made use of the space available and it was sentient. It had no doors. The window were large and each one boasted gargoyles, some took the shape of ravens, others were the horrors of Wicked Scary, and one was a miniature Cthulhu._

_As she approached the silent structure she saw two shadows break off of it and disappear. The two shadows rose from the ground in front of her. She stopped before them as they came into focus. The first was recognizable as Pride. The second was a little surprising and worrying, it was Azula's Rage. A blood red fireball was being tossed back and forth in the emote's hands._

_Pride addressed her, 'Speak quickly.'_

_'My business is urgent and it pertains to that one.' Pride's eyes shifted briefly to where she was pointing and then just as quickly were back on her._

_'Wait here.' She shivered at how cold the emote's voice was and just before Pride vanished, she could've swore she heard a quiet giggle. It put her even more on edge. Luckily she did not have long to wait before she was very suddenly before her mistress, who looked terrible. It seemed as though they'd not even gotten any sleep since this whole vacation started._

_'I'm surprised that you let me in.' Their mistress sighed tiredly, basically telling her to get to the point._

_'Azula will never get better on this accursed island. We need to move her somewhere else, anywhere else.' She fell silent as their mistress's attention was riveted on her._

_"And Robin will need to be informed about the suspicious attacks. It reeks of the Brotherhood." Her voice gave nothing away as to her current mood. Intelligence took this as a bad sign and said,'What about Gar?'_

_"We won't be needlessly worrying him or Black Magic, all we have to go on is 'a strange creature' considering what we know of this dimension, it could have been a displaced spirit. I'm sure Gar is already preparing for the worst. Anything else?"_

_'Zen was able to heal everything.' She winced at the look that their mistress sent her way. 'And by everything I mean our resurrection wounds.'_

_With that she vanished in a flash of yellow with their mistress's shocked expression burned into her memory. It was times like these that she wished she had a camera...  
_

* * *

**Ashfall, Zen's place; two days later.  
**

* * *

The boss, as Jang had called the head doctor, was not feeling generous as he arrived at Zen's home on the same morning that Raven had finally been pronounced well rested by Zen. As with Jang her impression of him went from zero to eviscerate in the first ten seconds. Chen was best described as off putting. He was short and lanky, His eyes were coal black and a thin triangular goatee framed his mouth. His hair was neatly trimmed and slicked back.

"Ah you must be that Revan woman that Jang was telling me about." She had to fight back a snort at how he mangled her name. Zen wasn't quite as successful. To her further unease Chen ignored Zen as he moved to sit at the table across from her, while pouring himself a cup of tea.

"Considering what happened a couple days ago. I've decided to keep you rooming with Zen. So she can keep an eye on you." He took a loud sip of his tea, that grated on her nerves. Behind him, her soul-self was doing shadow puppet theater and pantomiming strangulation.

"Very prudent of you." She kept her face blank but the shadow puppets reflected the glee she felt when he choked on his next sip of tea. She wasn't going to let him recover, "Of course you'll then have Zen show me around the facility today and monitor me as I familiarize myself with Azula's case. Before you'll allow me to see her."

The shadow puppets grew much more sinister as her glee transformed into sheer unadulterated joy. "Also prudent."

"Well then. I'll just leave you ladies to it then." He said as he practically ran out the door. She heard Zen's laughter moments later.

"It's like you were reading his mind."

She couldn't fight the smirk down as she said, "I was."

"Anything you've seen or heard contained with in my head can not be used against me and I will vehemently deny everything." Zen's words and outlook on the seemingly bizarre was refreshing and exactly what she needed.

"Shall we?" As a huge shadowy smiley face drew itself on the wall she followed behind Zen as the waterbender led the way to the fractured minds, screaming in silent agony for help.

* * *

The Asylum was no different as Zen led her from the ground floor to the sixth and back. Zen was surprisingly a terrible tour guide; the distinct lack of anecdotes about the other staff members, the bland descriptions, and the near constant glances towards the guards stationed by the doors they passed. She had had enough.

"Zen." When she had the waterbender's attention, "Take me to Azula."

It was the tiniest stretch of hesitation but she felt it. And after it had past, the fidgeting had started. "I'm really not supposed to...If I don't you'll probably find her yourself anyways."

She nodded in response as the waterbender began leading her to a set of black reinforced steel doors with two heavily armored guards on either side. Predictably the guards said, "Halt. Only authorized staff are allowed past this point."

"Relax Chung, Kei. Chen wants me down there to inspect the ice and perform routine maintenance." Both the guards gripped their weapons as their eyes shifted to the cloaked woman behind the waterbender.

"Oh," Zen's voice was brimming with amusement and nonchalance. "She's here on the fire lord's orders. A specialist for his sister. Surely Chen showed you those orders?"

The guards shared uncertain looks and shifted uneasily where they stood, Chen had shown them but he said the specialist wouldn't be allowed to see Azula for a week. Zen could sense the tension in the air thickening. "But if you want, I can go and tell Chen that you are questioning his orders on both accounts? Then it might lead him to telling the fire lor-"

"Okay, Okay, sheesh Zen we get it." The guard on the left said as the guard on the right pulled the metal bars that lay across the door up before pushing them both open. And as the two passed through the same guard said, "Next you see Chen, tell him we're loyal and we don't question things that ain't none of our business."

On the other side of the door was a long hallway that was dotted with dozens of flickering torches and at the far end she caught sight of the beginning of a spiral staircase. They walked in silence for a few moments more before the waterbender relaxed slightly. "That was easier then I expected."

"Expecting trouble?"

"Chen's peculiar about who he lets down here." Zen was deep in thought and she wasn't sure that she'd like anything the waterbender was going to say. "In the two years that I've been asylum staff, I've only ever been down to the Tundra four times. And each time I was told a week in advance. But the first time...I tried going in early and Chen almost had me thrown off the island."

"The Tundra?" She wasn't one to assume anything about nicknames even if they were obvious. But she couldn't quite hold back a glare when Zen looked at her like she was stupid.

"What do you know about firebending?" Zen's question went unanswered for a moment.

_'I told you we should have picked Iroh's brain about firebending before we left.' Anger and frustration was thick in her voice._

_'And I told you I'm not...ready yet.' Her mistress's voice sounded small and fragile, she swore at the next available opportunity that she was going to have words with Red._

_'We don't have a choice now...' She paused a moment and summoned G.I. Jane. 'So suck it up.' With that she chucked the green emote at their mistress._

"Not much." If Zen heard the vulnerable undertone in her voice as she answered, the waterbender didn't comment.

"Firebenders don't do well in extreme cold and the Tundra is as extreme as it gets. Even master level firebenders have a hard time staying warm down there. The tundra is a re-purposed secondary magma chamber. The architect turned it into a giant maze of hollowed obsidian. The walls and floor of the maze were filled with water and frozen. I heard from the older staff that during the war, waterbenders were forced to maintain the ice. Interestingly enough it stays really cool and only the occasional section needs to be re-froze. Hence the Tundra and why I've only been down here four times." Zen fell silent as they reached the stairs.

Despite her love/hate relationship with the cold, she felt how saturated the air was with a chill. As they descended the spiraling stairs the cold grew even worse. There was no wind but every flutter and swish of her cloak zapped the warmth from the skin that was exposed to the air. Her breath steamed with every exhale and every inhale made her nose, mouth, and throat burn. It was as they reached the bottom that she started shivering.

_'I d-don't even think our f-f-fire minions could w-w-w-warm this place.' Courage's teeth were chattering so badly that she barely made out what she said._

_'I'm to cold to dignify that with an appropriate response.' The emote shivered from the cold and the promised retribution from their mistress._

_'Y-you know you l-l-love me.'_

Zen led them to a blue-white wall of ice that blocked their path forward. The waterbender released a breath and moved her arms in a circular motion. As the wall began melting, the excess water swirled in the air where the wall had been and was forced to either side as Zen's arms completed the circle the water froze in place; forming an elaborate archway. "There are three guard outposts down here. Chen rotates the guards out every two months and those are the only hot spots in the Tundra. And that means, if we should get into trouble with other guards or a patient, no one is going to lift a finger to help us."

"So there are no doctors down here? At all?" Zen was already shaking her head at Raven before she finished speaking.

"I think the firebending patients are kept down here until their bending is diminished enough to not be dangerous or in danger of burning the place down. Then they are moved back to their rooms."

"Who's in charge of Azula's case?"

"Chen."

A heavy silence fell between them as they moved further into the maze of corridors. It wasn't long before they reach a four way crossing and turned left, at the end of the corridor they were ordered to stop. "Ah if it isn't Zen. I could've swore that Chen made no mention of you doing maintenance this week. I also spy an extra with you. Now I know that you aren't supposed to be down here and whomever is with you, sure as Koh will steal your face, isn't supposed to be either."

"My _extra_ ," She knew of only one person who could sound that menacing effortlessly, and she knew that Rage hadn't escaped, she was impressed. "Is here by order of the Fire lord. To help his sister."

"Is she now?" The guard's sick satisfaction made her nauseous even more so as he continued with a smug grin on his face. "Must have slipped Chen's mind to inform us when he escorted the other doc down here to treat Princess psychotic earlier. He also said that we weren't to let her have visitors until she's healed some."

Something snapped within her and she did nothing to restrain her soul-self as it lashed out. "What the fuck-"

He was cut off as the cold became animate and slammed him into the wall on his left. But the cold didn't stop there as it bounced him off of every surface like he was a pinball and with one final collision, the cold left him in a heap on the floor. "Its cute that you think you can stop us from reaching Princess psychotic."

"D-Demon."

The grin on her face was terrifying and for the first time she enjoyed how much the pathetic guard was trembling before her. As she stepped past him she glanced at Zen. "Come along."

"Where have you been all my life." The two shared a grin but a second later and the waterbender was left standing in an empty corridor with the image of Raven's face burned into her eyes, she had two sets of red eyes and a reverberating echo of the most blood chilling growl that she had ever heard.

* * *

"Who died making you fire lord? I'm next soon as Chen says she can be visited." The slight twang in the guard's voice reminded her of Billy Numerous.

 **"** _ **Boo.**_ **"** Both guards turned their heads to see who it was that had spoken and tripped over each other in the process of running for their lives.

A groan of frustration followed by a chuckle filled the air. "That really wasn't necessary Jirin. After all those two dip shits scare easy. Now take off that ridiculous get up and go find them or they'll freeze to death down here."

"Ah Hirkjo you're no fun. I just wanted to keep them on their toes. It doesn't help to be unprepared, especially because they're taking over for us once we retire."

"Even so go find them or it will be our asses and then boom we don't get our retirement pensions."

His words had Jirin's shoulders slumping as he meandered off after Lei and Dao. _This is going to take forever and just my luck that today is my last day._

He was about eighty feet from Hirkjo when both Lei and Dao came racing back towards him. Without even stopping to explain what was going on both Dao and Lei grabbed Jirin and proceeded to sprint down the corridor towing a resisting Jirin behind them. Both of his arms were hooked by Lei and Dao and his feet was dragging along the floor, he was trying to dig his heels into the smooth floor but to no avail.

"What in the name of Agni has gotten into you guys?!" His shout was ignored by his coworkers as they continued to run. The reason for their near mindless run came into view and Jirin lost control of his bladder not that he noticed as he started shouting again, "Run faster!" _Those eyes a-and mouths, the teeth._ And then to his further horror and a bowl movement, he heard skittering as a centipede like body rushed at them from the ceiling. Just as Koh the face stealer and the other creature brushed against his skin they vanished altogether.

"Whew," Hirkjo waved his hand in front of his face and laughed, "They got you good Jirin. Never would have expected them to be enough to scare the piss and shit out of you."

Two of the three were huffing and puffing to be too bothered with what Hirkjo was saying and Jirin was too frightened to be embarrassed, besides it was a game they played trying to literally scare bodily fluids out of each other.

"Though you did manage to get them first." Hirkjo said with a wide grin. When no one said anything it was then that he noticed the state that they were in.

A frown marred his face. "What? Did those idiots from sector A do that Koh ruse again or something?"

"We have to get out of here now." said Dao, while Lei was frantically searching the ceiling of the corridor for the black spirit that frightened him, more then the patient that he'd been guarding for the last half year.

"Why do we need to abandon our posts?"

A skitter echoed in the corridor and a flash of white blinded all of them and when the glare faded a monster with sickly green skin stood before them. Several large gaping mouths with razor sharp glimmering black teeth pockmarked its body. As the monster reared back it sent green tentacles racing toward them. The four guards were ensnared by a tentacle and as they were lifted from the ground they blacked out. The monster hurled each of them down the corridor and four thuds echoed off the walls. As the echos faded she vanished the monster back into nothingness.

"Azarath," The fall into the bottomless pit of fear ceased. "Metrion," The panic was silenced. "Zinthos." The haze of emotions that had been clouding her mind settled and her awareness of self returned.

_'That was intense.' Intelligence was stunned at how completely overwhelming that surge of emotions had been._

_'And this,' She drew back from the tone of their mistress's voice. 'Is exactly why I didn't want to enter her mind.'_

_She saw red. 'I had, no, we had nothing to do with that. Can you honestly say that being synced with her emotions is a bad thing? Considering that Ashfall is exactly like Arkham and Dr. Leads.'_

_'_ _**No.** _ _' Before she realized what had happened their mistress was already gone and she was left with more questions then answers. She really hated that._

Her soul-self tore the steel door out of the frame and crushed it into a ball the size of a marble, it too was thrown down the corridor. The soft thunk of its landing was drowned out by a psychotic roar, followed shortly by bright orange red flames. The flames died as quickly as they came and when more then a minute passed without so much as a spark, she lowered the shield. And immediately had to force down a growl.

Azula's wrist and ankles were chained together, the shackles had rubbed the skin raw. The firebender's skin was covered in black, blue, and purple bruises, several lacerations were oozing green-yellow pus, and two of her ribs were broken; the rest had minor fractures. In the dark of the cell her eyes were pale yellow like a cat's.

"If you want your money's worth come and get it." Raven remained unnaturally still as the rough, almost purring, voice spoke. And as if the firebender could sense the hesitation. "I hope you are ready to bleed for it."

"I'm here to help." Unfortunately Raven's emotionless response served to incise Azula. More flames poured forth lighting up the dark cell. She paid them no mind as she moved into the cell. The barrage of flames petered out and as the last of the light died, the firebender caught a glimpse of her visitor.

"S-So you were real..." her voice shook with uncertainty as the cloaked woman, whom had just recently starred in another hallucination, appeared in the flesh.

"I really am here to help you." Raven said still keeping the emotion out of her voice, her soul-self was still hypersensitive and reactionary.

A hollow bout of laughter filled the air and set Raven's teeth on edge. "I've heard that countless times before. Its always just a ploy to coax me into letting my guard down with their earnest sincerity and then the hammer drops."

"Well come on then." Raven see's the way she's being beckoned forward, hears the faint clinking of the shackles, and the disarming grin on Azula's face. "Administer the aid you've promised me."

Never having been one to disappoint her first action destroys the shackles and when Azula's anticipation reaches its height, her second action zaps Azula's earlier confidence and as the shadows themselves move to immobilize all movement, all Azula feels is fear. But it is her third action, it is her words that are the final straw. "Azarath Metrion Zinthos."

The sudden absence of pain, of any kind, is jarring and as motion returns to the fire bender's body she does not move. To move would break the tentative hope that this time someone is finally doing as they said. It isn't until the woman from her vision collapses boneless to the ground that she risks moving. She creates a small ball of fire in her hand and holds it up, the shadows it creates are long and flicker terribly, as does the flame she holds. _What happened?_

"I healed all your injuries in one go. I should be fine." Azula scrambled back from where the cloaked woman lay. Before anything more could be said or done, footsteps rapidly approached the cell. As they drew closer Azula dispelled the fireball and darkness surrounded them once more. The footsteps stopped just outside the doorway. The light of a torch spilled into the cell and illuminated the cloaked woman as she turned away from the light. "Zen lower the torch or put it on the wall or something."

As the light moved away and the owner of the footsteps enter the cell moments later, Azula shrank back to the far wall of the cell hoping that the newcomer wouldn't notice her. Her mind had other ideas. "Why did you heal me? How did you do it so quickly? Even a waterbender can't heal instantly."

"Zen," With effort the waterbender managed to tear her attention from the unshackled and lucid Azula to Raven. "please wait outside."

To Azula's surprise the other woman nodded and stepped out, leaving them alone. A moment later and Raven was speaking again, "I wanted you to trust me and to believe me when I say that I mean you no harm. I absorb the pain from a wound into myself and that induces rapid healing in the other person."

"Why? Why are you doing all of this? Least of all for me. Who the hell are you?" Azula's voice was rife with frustration and exhaustion.

"Your uncle showed me great kindness when I found myself at the mercy of this world. He asked me to help you with your mental ills. And here I am doing just that." Raven watched as one of the major side effects of her healing took a hold of Azula, the firebender's eyes were closed and her breathing was deep and even. Raven released a tired sigh and rose from the ground. She used her magic to place her cloak around Azula and stepped out into the corridor. As soon as she did, Zen was opening her mouth but closed it when Raven grabbed her arm and then proceeded to drag her away from Azula's cell.

When Raven let go, Zen winced and rounded on the woman but stopped dead at the glare that greeted her. "Do you know what Chen is doing?"

Zen swallowed the lump in her throat as the shadows grew denser around them as Raven had spoke. She saw flashes of green and red at the edges of her vision, she resisted the urge to turn and look at them.

"Do you know that he's letting people pay for the opportunity to rape a patient of their choice?"

" _He's what?!_ " Her eyes were roiling like the sea during a storm. And that was all the answer that Raven needed. What Zen said next, cemented their friendship firmly in Raven's mind. "We're going to kill him right?"

"Sadly no." At the sheer rage that washed over Raven, she almost reconsidered. "We have to be cautious about how we proceed. I doubt Zuko would believe either of us if we told him about Chen. But I have a plan."

Zen nodded. "I'm listening."

"It could get you banished from the Fire Nation, possibly killed."

"What do you need me to do?" Zen couldn't get the words out fast enough.

* * *

There was a spring in his step as he returned to his plush office. His last round of clients had finally made their payments and he didn't need to get his hands dirty by having Jorjun make visits. _Although that lousy lowlife has been remarkably difficult to find as of late. Perhaps I should consider that Yen fellow..._

When he turned down the hall where his office was his steps faltered upon seeing that strange woman, that the fire lord dropped into the middle of his operation, casually standing by his door. He had to fight back a sneer as he drew level with her. Instead he plastered his patented fake smile on his face.

"Doctor Chen." His fake smile twitched. "I heard you're a man that makes miracles happen for those willing to pay the price."

His fake smile was replaced with a true one as he waved her into his office and closed the door behind him. _Hmm...I suspected that Zuko sent her to expose my operation. But this is a fortunate turn of events._

He absentmindedly directed her to a plain wooden chair that was opposite his own cushioned wing backed throne, he like to think of it as a throne. Once he was sat and he was settled comfortably, he regarded the woman in his office with a reserved air about him. As one could never be too careful with the kind of operation he was running. _Spirits it was easier to get away with this when Ozai was fire lord. Heh he was my best customer._

"You've heard correctly. But from who did you hear this?" He watched her with a keen eye, waiting for her to fumble.

"No one specifically. Just whispers borne on a non-existent wind and in the shadows cast by flickering candle light." He couldn't decide how to interpret the expression on her face as she passed the first and most critical hurdle.

"Ha. A most excellent response." He relaxed his posture and leaned back in his throne and gestured with his hand. "To business."

"Royalty is so alluring and yet so untouchable at the same time." She felt sick as the words poured from her smiling lips.

He loosed an amused huff. "The spitfire eh? She's popular among you 'specialists'. A free uninterrupted session will cost you a fortune."

"I'm very keen on the spitfire. How much would it cost for me to 'treat' her privately off of the island?" It was a struggle to get those words out and to keep her soul-self from breaking free.

"Oh ho, ho, well now, that could be arranged but I have some concerns about safety." A wave of his 'interest' in the picture that her words painted for him swept through her and left her feeling unclean. She swore then and there that when she got away from here she was going to bathe in hell-fire for a week; it was the only way that she would ever feel clean again.

"Safety is of no concern to me. I can grantee that she will be kept in a secure location." Her shadow puppet theater was back and Chen was being perforated like a voodoo doll in the air above his head.

He was lost in thought as the fingers of one hand groomed his beard while his other hand drummed lazily against the arm rest on his chair. "I imagine that you'll want the fire lord kept blissfully unaware of this development in the course of the spitfire's treatment." He received a nod. "And if I were amenable to this indulgence...there is still the subject of payment. She is very high in demand and just serviced my best high paying clients. They visit frequently."

"I have uncut gemstones." She watched as his eyes bulged in disbelief and she imagined that had he been drinking, he'd have sprayed tea or spirits over the front of his desk.

"Cut and untraceable ones as well." She said into the stilted silence trying to not focus on his earlier confession, her and Rage had agreed that death was too quick for him.

"Show me." His grin was hungry and she shivered at how similar this man was to Dr. Leads.

With an ease that she did not feel and resigned to how necessary all of this was she placed four golf ball sized gems on the front of his desk. "These were not easy to find and there are more where they came from. Go ahead."

The undisguised greed in his eyes caused the shadow puppets to shift to Chen's body being bent into the shape of a pretzel with his bones snapping painfully in the process. She knew from her reading that he was greatly interested in the precious stones. In this world they were not plentiful and they were extremely small in size; if they were found at all.

"I am not a fool. It will be difficult for you to keep the fire lord and other interested parties from visiting the spitfire," She waved her hand and four black cloth bags appeared in the air. "but you will succeed in your efforts for at least a month."

His eyes were riveted on the bags as they slowly opened and the contents drifted out to hang suspended in the air. _There are hundreds of them and they're huge! With these I'd be richer than the Bei Fong family._ He almost let out a snarl of protest as the gemstones vanished back into the bags and then the bags vanished altogether, the only ones remaining sat innocently on his desk. "Those four are initial payment and the fees for interference."

He shifted his gaze from the shiny gems and looked directly into violet orbs. "And you'll get ten more to ensure cooperation. But you won't see the bags again until I've gotten my money's worth."

"Deal." He said in a daze as he fantasized about swimming in a pool of blue sapphires. He didn't see her exit, nor did he notice that her cloak was dark blue and not the black that it had been before, and he was not aware of anything outside of those gems until Jang burst into his dark office hours later in a panic about princess Azula having gone missing and about fire spirits popping up all over Ashfall or something.

_Damn. I liked Jang, he was quick on the up take and while he was a man who liked his women feisty, he also suffered from terrible urges of sodomy with other men, often fucking them bloody. But if I ever want to see those stones again... I'll give him just as bloody a send off._

His office was still dark when he slammed Jang face down against the wood of his desk. Jang's cries of mercy fell on deaf ears as Chen, wearing a shit eating grin, tore Jang's trousers off. And as Chen drove in deep, a fountain of blood rode the air as Jang's lungs ruptured from the force of his scream. But Chen did not see blood. He saw rubies raining down from the ceiling and flooding his office with their beautiful luster and shine.


	13. The Demons Of Madness Hold You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Important notes: Reminder when the you see un-Italicized letters in a sea of Italic those are the characters thoughts. In order to properly read the demonic language that I just completely made on the spot, here are some rules. For every five letter word, the first letter of that word is silent for example; the word Sakar would be pronounced Akar.
> 
>  
> 
> **_Trigger Warning! Physical and semi graphic depiction of sexual child abuse. Proceed with caution._**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender or Teen Titans. I own only the plots/ideas/situations that I have placed the characters in and my OCs.**  

* * *

_"What do you need me to do?" She couldn't get the words out fast enough. Raven didn't give her a verbal response right away. So she watched as Raven wrote bright red symbols in the air and chanted. "Sakar Tor. Katou Zon. Sakar Zen Ji Rem Tai Sakar. Terla Xenka Zon."_

_The symbols began to writhe as if they had been hit with lightening, after a moment they stilled. "Tell me Zen, how do you feel about commanding your own army of," She saw an ocean of self-loathing fill Raven's eyes, "Fire spirits?"_

_It was a struggle to keep the words she desperately wanted to say from leaving her mouth but she did managed to swallow them. "And what will I be doing with said army of Fire spirits?"_

_"Evacuate the patients of Ashfall and the spirits will do the rest, but they'll need focus." She saluted Raven and was instructed to hold still. A moment later and an unquenchable heat spread throughout her body as the symbols met with her skin._

_"Sakar Rem Kal Inan Zxn Calon Eonra Sakar." As Raven fell silent, she heard a hiss as dozens of fire spirits came into being around her._

_"_ _**Kyrak, Zemra, and Norse, front and center.** _ _" Three of the Fire spirits appeared in front of Raven._

 _"_ _**You three will protect what I've marked, with your life.** _ _" The three spirits bowed and drifted in the direction of Azula's cell. "_ _**The rest of you will do as the Sakar Rem Tai commands.** _ _"_

_It wasn't until all of the Fire spirits present had bowed to her that she understood what Raven had meant or rather who she meant by Sakar Rem Tai. One could forgive the waterbender for not being quick on the uptake, after all, it wasn't every day that she got handed an army of Fire spirits._

A cool breeze chased the warm haziness clouding her mind away. The first thing she noticed was that she was resting against a wall of some kind and she heard the crash of waves against a shore. The silver pale light sparked a thought in her mind. _There won't be a full moon for two weeks...what the hell is going on? Where am I?_ Flashes of light, the hissing of steam, and frozen blackness. The rush of her memories was disorienting and made her nauseous. _Looks like I'm staying right here for the moment._

"Friend Raven will be most glad that you are awake." If her body wasn't weighted down, she would have jumped out of her skin at hearing the voice. Her eyes were drawn to the speaker. _Is her skin orange? Her eyes are like emeralds. She's got to be an earthbender._

"You're friends with Raven?"

"Yes," There was a genuine smile on the woman's face. "You may call me Starfire."

"I'm Zen Ji. But every one calls me Zen." She tentatively returned Starfire's smile with a shaky one of her own.

"Well Starfire, I feel like I've been turned inside out and I'd really like to speak with my friend." She said and wasn't all that shocked when Starfire flew closer to where she was before answering her question.

"Friend Robin is having the word with Friend Raven. Her appearance with you and Azula was unexpected. Friend Raven asked me to do the company keeping of you until she is done getting the dressed down from Friend Robin."

"And where is this lovely vacation spot that I've been dragged to?" Her head was getting fuzzy again and she needed to focus on something else.

"You're in Jump City." Starfire had just finished speaking when a section of the wall that she was leaning against slid open and a man in yellow, green, and red stepped onto the roof. An instant later and her friend rose out of the ground.

"Star we've got a bank heist down town, gray district." He said and in the blink of an eye Starfire was right next to him. "Cyborg will meet us there."

The man spared Raven a brief glance and said, "Was there really nowhere else?"

After a moment of silence and an unending glare from Raven. The man nodded and loosed a sigh before sprinting to the edge of the roof and leaping off of it. Starfire wasn't far behind him.

As soon as they were gone she said, "Raven we need to have a serious talk about how you can hide the fact that you have an army at your beck and call. Why do I feel so...wiped out?"

"Its a side affect of the magic I used on you. A good night's sleep should have you feeling right as rain." She nodded and was starting to drift off as Raven moved closer to her.

"Wait where am I?" She was going down fast.

"On Earth or the world that I live in, normally."

"Oh that's nice..." Before she could succumb to sleep her mind processed Raven's words. Her eyes shot open and she took in her surroundings. There was a strange array of markings on the ground in front of her and just beyond it was a sight that she'd never seen before, the coastline dotted with millions of lights. Not even the Firefly festival could've compared; once every twenty years every Fire Nation citizen was ordered to capture a firefly and on the night of the festival, release them to light up the night in remembrance of the past, present, and future of the Fire Nation. "This is incredible but why'd you bring me? I figured your sole concern was princess Azula."

"You're the first person whose called her that without making her title sound like a nasty insult." Raven sounded so despondent as she spoke.

"We all do horrible things. But for some reason the more famous you are when you commit atrocities the greater the infamy is when you fall from grace. It sickens me that because she tried to kill the avatar and his friends, she's synonymous with pure evil." She closed her eyes against the flood of images, the tableau of blood running like a river, a body curled in on itself, and burnt flesh.

"Yet murderers get to walk free. An entire nation of the vilest criminals get to go scott free because they were just following orders. And the princess wasn't? What was she supposed to do when her father ordered her to capture and kill the avatar? Say no." She did nothing to stop the bitter laughter that bubbled up and out of her mouth.

"That's why I brought you with us." She quirked an eyebrow at Raven's remark, "You can see what kind of life Azula was forced to live. And she's going to need all the help she can get."

"Not because we're friends?"

"That too." That small 'just for the people I care about' smile spread across Raven's face as she offered the waterbender a hand. "Its time for the nickel tour and a run down of the ground rules before the others get back. Robin's a little upset that I dropped in with you two unannounced."

She returned Raven's smile as she took the offered assistance. "Hey you ever think about giving out fur-lined parkas for when you do that abyss of frostbite thing?"

Raven shook her head and headed for the section of wall that moved and motioned for the waterbender to follow. "First rule, no one is allowed in my room."

* * *

It was the smell of cooking meat that helped her combat the exhaustion and wake from slumber. Bleary eyes met with an expanse of black fabric and her mind drew a blank on where she was. "Azarath Metrion Zinthos. Azarath Metrion Zinthos. Azarath Metrion Zinthos."

When she heard those familiar words she rolled over intending to sleep for a little longer then everything came rushing back and with a jolt she shot bolt up right. Then she fell face first off of the u-shaped couch. A gray throw rug broke her fall. _Ow._

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos."

Her eyes narrowed and slowly she rose from the ground while trying to tame her mad scientist hair. Then she straightened her rumbled clothes before directing a glare at her friend. "Oh hardy har har. We can't all be as unflappable as a rock."

A single indigo brow rose. "Azarath Metrion Zinthos."

"If you're going to be this impossible, this early, at least tell me what's for breakfast."

"My world famous heart attack breakfast of champions platter, complete with your choice of: English muffins, white toast, chocolate chip bagels, fresh sconces, or cinnamon rolls."

In an instant she was facing the speaker and she took an involuntary step back. _He's half metal like Azan._ Those memories were an unwelcome intrusion."You're half metal. How did it happen?"

She was aware that Raven had stopped chanting and the half-metal man had shifted his attention to make eye contact with Raven. A full minute passed as she watched them hold a silent conversation. His eye, the red one, flashed harshly. 'What did you say to her?' Raven shrugged. 'Don't look at me like that. I didn't say anything to her.'

"My dad," Her tensed muscles loosened and she felt that a weight had shifted off of her. "He couldn't sit back and watch me die." As he finished answering her he set three large plates on the gray counter in front of him. Then a fourth was set down, away from the other three.

"My apologies. It happened to a friend of mine...against his will and they turned him into a weapon. When I saw him again he wasn't the same." At this he fumbled with a couple utensils and they clattered loudly on the counter, one of them slid off and landed on the floor.

The smile he flashed her was a little forced. "You look like a cinnamon roll person to me, doesn't she Rae?"

"Definitely a cinnamon roll person."

"What's a cinnamon roll?" She asked as she followed Raven to the counter. And finally saw the 'world famous heart attack breakfast of champions platter'. The first three plates had four strips of bacon, two bratwurst sausages, cheese covered hash browns, half a ham and cheese omelet topped with sautéed mushrooms and onions, and a stack of flapjacks drenched in syrup and melted butter. The fourth plate had four medium rare rib-eyes stacked on top of a raw sixteen ounce t-bone.

 _That's a lot of meat. Who's-_ Her thoughts were interrupted as a small plate was slid in front of her. A frosting glazed pastry rested on it. "A sample for the uninitiated."

"Zen, this is Cyborg." Raven said as Cyborg grumbled something that sounded like 'spoilsport'. "Cyborg, this is Zen. Is it ready yet?"

He nodded, "The broth's in the green one."

The waterbender's attention was drawn back to the food laid out on the counter and after she got her first taste of the cinnamon roll, she attacked the rest of her breakfast like a starving man at an all you can eat buffet. So occupied with good food and Cyborg's running commentary about scones she didn't see Raven's impressive magical display. The kitchen was filled with flying utensils: a bowl, a spoon, two tea mugs, a tray, and a ladle. Both the bowl and ladle made a detour at the green pot but only the bowl settled on the tray.

It wasn't until after Robin, the waterbender assumed it was Robin, had joined her and Cyborg that she noticed Raven wasn't there. She did however see that the plate full of meat was empty with five stark white bones on it.

* * *

"Starfire," The alien princess looked at Raven but it did nothing to quell the uncertainty that she felt. "You can do this. I know you remember how confusing it was to adjust to living on earth. And she...was on the losing side."

Her eyes were wide as she met Raven's and the answer was just as she feared. "One hundred years of war and it ended six years ago. She was _**raped repeatedly. Her mind is unstable and they just took advantage-**_ " Unlike most of their team, and especially after fighting Trigon, Starfire gradually overcame her inherent fear of demons and by extension Friend Raven. The hug wasn't short and it served to calm both of them. They both pulled away at the same time.

"I can do this. But she'll feel safe around you. Probably."

She saw the faint smile on Raven's face before she took a step back and allowed Raven to knock on the door. "Azula are you awake?"

"Yes"

"May we enter?"

"An illusion of choice, not that I have a choice at all really," There was a pause. "At least you're a step up from the last hellhole I was unceremoniously thrown in. And if you dragged that waterbender with you, she's not wanted. But again I have no say in the matter."

"No I did not bring the waterbender with me. But a good friend of mine and she'll be of more help to you than I ever will."

"I doubt that."

With a wave Raven opened the door and entered the dark room. The room evoked some of the unpleasant memories that she associated with the room's former occupant. The walls were earth tones; reds and browns interspersed with gray and black. The ceiling was a reflection of the night sky, or rather Beast Boy's interpretation of it.

Like a magnet the half-demon's eyes located Azula in the farthest corner from the door. Azula's knees were drawn to her chest, her chin sat on them, and her eyes watched the yellow-orange flame that flickered in her hands.

"Where am I?" She asked, her eyes remained focused on the flame.

"In another dimension." The half-demon's answer angered her.

"This isn't the spirit world and I wasn't born yesterday." The flame was little more that a spark at this but it did not go out. "It doesn't matter how pretty you make it nor does it matter how much freedom I seemingly have; a cell is still a cell."

"Humor me and put these on before you look out that window." Haunted gold eyes slowly shifted away from the fire in front of her to glance toward Raven and when her eyes returned to her hands she saw a pair of glasses floating in the air, above the flame she held. _Those aren't normal. The lens's look darker. Wait...it's another hallucination, things can't float like that. But then again she supposedly healed me._

"What are these?"

"Sunglasses. They reduce the glare of the sun. Your eyes will be more sensitive to light and these will help your eyes re-adjust."

With one last look in Raven's direction she grasped the floating sunglasses and held back the gasp of surprise as the glasses really were floating in the air. After inspecting them briefly she slipped them on. And was drowning in unease as the room was instantly darker than before. She rose from the ground slowly and kept her back pressed to the wall as she inched her way toward the window. When she reached it, the curtains moved aside on their own. She cast a wary glance at Raven and upon seeing that the woman hadn't moved nor had she seen anyone else enter, only then did she gaze out of the window.

The sight of an unfamiliar coastline greeted her. But all thought of caution and danger vanished when the sun's rays hit her skin. She inhaled as she felt the stirring of her fire chi and held for a moment longer before exhaling slowly. It was the first time in a very, very, long time that she relaxed. So relaxed that a moment later found her entire body in the sunlight. She wasn't aware of anything outside of the sunlight. Not the soft thunk of a tray of food being set down nor the presence of another person entering the room. It was just her and the sun.

"That is Jump City and this is Earth, my home." Raven's voice caused Azula to whirl around and shrink back against the window refusing to give up the only thing that she took comfort in; the sunlight.

"You are not a prisoner here. But there are a few ground rules that you are required to follow and places that you won't have access to. I'll have-" Raven forced herself to take a deep breath as her cloak's clasp started flashing yellow. "Fuck."

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Starfire fidget nervously. "Sorry Star. Its Dr. Light. Please make sure she eats."

A flash of black heralded her departure.

The room's remaining occupants were plunged into deafening silence. Before it was flooded with bright orange-yellow flames. Then the alien princess was forced to dodge a round house kick that was aimed at her head. Starfire's eyes lit up and narrowed as she fended off Azula's flurry of attacks.

It was when Azula's attacks lost their vigor that Starfire countered by rushing her. Caught off guard Azula was taken for a ride through the window. As glass shattered and fell around them she felt the inhuman strength twisting her arms behind her. The strength in the orange skinned woman's grip surprised her but what stilled her attempts to escape was what was said, " **You've no honor. You have weakness. I do not fear the rutha.** "

" _You can't treat me like this. You can't treat me like Zuko!_ " This desperate cry from Azula bewildered Starfire. "Zuko?"

Starfire flew higher heading for the roof. Azula was heedless of her surroundings as the sudden waking nightmare reached fever pitch, " _But it was my idea to burn everything to the ground. I deserve to be by your side._ "

Azula's words viciously tugged at something inside of Starfire as they landed on the roof. When they were both down, Starfire let go of her captive. As soon as Azula was free she rounded on the alien princess. Azula's eyes were hollow, " _You're both fools._ "

Sub-consciously Starfire took a few steps back but to her dismay Azula matched her step for step.

" _Put them somewhere I'll never have to see their faces again. And let them rot._ "

Those were the last words that Azula spoke before she collapsed and Starfire saw, that that hollowness had faded from her eyes.

* * *

_Her father's flames danced before her eyes as she waited for him to speak. It wasn't a long wait. "You've disappointed me with your poor judgment. Not even that circus freak was any good. Despite numerous assurances."_

_Each word cut and burned like a fire dagger. She did her best to remain un-moving as he continued his diatribe. "I expected more from you. Torture to teach them exactly what those who betray the Fire Nation will receive, a long and painfully drawn out death."_

_She had wished endlessly to be as far away from him as she could get but it never came true and after everyone abandoned her, she gave up on the foolish notion of escape._

_"In order for you to remedy this oversight," She shivered as his voice seemed to caress her ears. "I'll have both of those traitors put to death for their actions,"_

_She was having trouble drawing breath as her heart constricted and an icy chill left her numb._ I won't let him. I can't let him. They're my friends. No they were my friends. My friends.

* * *

_"Please Zula." As the acrobat's pleas echoed in her ears the princess sent a imploring 'help me' look in Mai's direction._

_Mai shrugged in that effortless elegance that is distinctly Mai. "You know that once she's got her heart set on something that we all simply must do together, it gets done. Lets just get it over with."_

_"Hey!" Azula and Mai both looked at Ty Lee, one with a malicious glint in her eyes, the other with a brow raised. "Don't talk about me as if I'm not here."_

_Azula would never admit, not even under pain of death, that a pouting Ty Lee was the cutest thing in the world. Not even her stuffed dragon Sokon could compete, something else she would deny ever owning and labeling 'cute'._

_Azula sighed and Ty Lee immediately perked up, as she somehow knew it was a sigh of defeat. Her intuition was quickly proven right. "If we must."_

_She wouldn't, couldn't, hold back the squeal of delight as she tackle hugged her princess. The both of them tumbled to the ground. Azula sent a glare in Mai's direction and when they were no longer being so obviously observed, Azula returned the hug and chuckled at Ty Lee's antics._

_Mai looked on in utter disbelief as she tried, and failed, to keep her damn face muscles from twitching their way into a smile at the sight._ Agni looks like I owe Ty forty gold pieces. I didn't think that Azula could manage cute or cuddly.

* * *

 _She was breathing too fast as the flood of her memories abated, she forced her breathing to slow. It wouldn't do to be off balance and show him how badly his words were affecting her. But it was agony._ How can I possibly still care for those fools? Why-

_"And you will be their executioner." It took everything in her not to jerk back at his words. A fiery tempest filled her mind and with every beat of her heart, the flames burned hotter._

_"No." She took no satisfaction from the way he jerked back as if struck, at her defiance. She allowed him to dictate her life, he was all she had, but this was a step too far._

_A smile, twisted and crooked, appeared on her face at how dangerous his voice sounded, she was unaffected as the tempest hissed and licked behind her eyes. "What did you say?"_

_"I said no. I will not kill them and I won't let you kill them either." Her voice was low but even, as she stood and deliberately extinguished the wall of flames separating them. Her eyes met his and she refused to look away. He sneered back and as he made to reignite the flames, she beat him to it. The low wall of blue flames flickered ominously. "Agni Kai."_

_"You dare to challenge me." He growled at her._

_"I fight for their lives." She saw the muscles in his jaw clench as his eyes narrowed to little more than slits._

_"Insolent child. You'll suffer for the embarrassment at the Boiling Rock." The doors were flung open and the throne room was filled with imperial guards, drawn by the commotion._

_"Stand down. I've challenged my father to Agni Kai." As she spoke, much to his outrage, his, his imperial guards bowed and then form a large circle around Azula._

_"I accept." He spit out. He rose gracefully from his seated position and jumped over the wall of blue flames to the ground below. And slowly made his way toward the circle of guards. The guards nearest him created a wide opening for him and when he was past, they closed ranks._

_They moved in unison as they bowed and settled into their stances."In this hour we bear witness to Agni Kai. The challenger will now voice their grievance and state their desired out come if they achieve victory."_

_"My father thinks he can order me to kill two of my subordinates, I have refused him. And he's refused to see reason." A flash of black and then of white filled the edges of her vision. She fought down a wave of panic and forced herself to finish. "When I have victory, life and standard imprisonment will be granted for Mai and Ty Lee."_

_Before the guard could prompt him, her father spoke, sparks nearly flying from his mouth. "My daughter is an insolent child throwing a tantrum and is blinded by the blow dealt to the war as a direct result of her subordinates' actions. She is as culpable as the soldiers under her command. I question her loyalty to the Fire Nation. When I have victory, she will face banishment and exile to Kyoshi Island. Which will be cleansed of all other human habitation before her arrival."_

_There is no traditional gong to signal the start of their duel. There is a breath that breaks the silence. And then. "Begin!"_

_She dives for the ground and rolls under the wave of flame that passes overhead. As her momentum slows she rises, expelling flame from her mouth. He spins to avoid the circular burst of blue. His arms move back and forth in a steady rhythm launching balls of flame in rapid succession at her._

_She deflects each one with a blue fire dagger as she closes the distance between them. As she swipes the last one into smoke and sparks, a wave of heat is her only warning as a massive fireball rushes at her. A volley of smaller fireballs follow behind. She is already aloft and performing a back-flip as her father's attack meets her. Coils of blue sparks gather at her feet and as she falls the sparks flare into a blaze. She stomps the Solar Flare into nothingness with a storm of blue. Her body is in constant motion as she dances in and out of the path of the smaller fire balls._

_She deftly dodges the last one and is forced to launch herself into the air. The fire whip grazes her left leg. She locks her jaw and swallows the grunt that tries to escape. She uses the pain to focus her mind and ejects another burst of flame from both feet, to gain more height._

_Her whole body is spinning in the air, drawing the flames around her in close before more flame pours from her hands and mouth, creating a funnel of fire. The funnel touches down on the floor as her body flies from the top, she performs another back-flip and kicks out toward the funnel._

_He does not see her land lightly on the ground behind the fire cyclone, nor does he see her begin her dance. What he does notice is the cyclone closing on him and the heat drives him back. But no matter how far he moves, the cyclone dogs him. Then impossibly and just as it would swallow him, a whimper rends the air. "I yield!"_

_The fire cyclone dances back and forth before slowly growing smaller. Smoke and sparks add even more heat to the air. "What did you say?"_

_He whimpered again as his daughter is revealed, she was awash in the light from the dying fire cyclone, in stark contrast to the darkness around them. A blue fireball is being tossed carelessly into the air as her footsteps approach him._

_"I-I-I y-yield." The only other time that he's ever felt this level of fear was when his father, Azulon, personally instructed his firebending lessons. His breathing was ragged and shallow as her boots stopped before him._ When did I...get on my knees?

_An indescribably unpleasant, almost painful, heat neared his chin and instinctively he looked up. The cause of the heat was a blue fire dagger and when he looked up, he brought his nose level with it; later he would find a contact burn on the tip. "And?"_

_"Mai and Ty Lee have their lives and will be treated as standard prisoners." He briefly considered having them quietly executed later. But the fire cyclone super imposed itself across his vision, and that was why he acquiesced to her demands._ What kind of monster have I wrought unto my self and the world? _He repressed a shudder at that thought.  
_

_Once silence fell upon them he saw the fire dagger wink out of existence and then she turned on her heel to walk out of the circle of guards. He did not rise from the floor until the doors to the room had closed behind her.  
_

* * *

_In the safety of her room she collapsed on to her bed from sheer exhaustion. Behind her eyes the flash of black and of white returned with a vengeance. The black and white were slow to take shape but as she drifted off the after image of two enormous dragons had burned across her eyes. If she dreamt, she doesn't remember for she woke to a hand over her mouth and one around her throat._

_A weight pinned her in place and a whisper in her ear made that weight heavier. "No one defies me, Zula."_

_The weight shifted but did not grant her freedom of movement as she breathed flame at him. "Ah, ah, ah. There will be none of that." And a moment later it felt as though she'd been frozen in a block of ice. Terror unlike anything she'd ever experienced bogged her mind down as she felt her Dragon Breath taper off. A moment later and she coughed up sparks._ No. No. No. No. No. No. _And suddenly Rage flared, temporarily drowning out her fear as his earlier statement shone through._

_"You don't get to call me that. Only Ty-"_

_One moment her father was looming at a distance and the next his eyes were boring into hers, his breath caused goose flesh to raise across her cheek were he exhaled, and his hands were holding her arms down. Tears gathered in her eyes as his fingers plucked the edge of her tunic at the base of her neck. She didn't let them fall as a searing heat cut it away. She closed her eyes as she felt the brush of his lips upon her skin. More goose flesh raised as he moved to a more sensitive area._

_The Rage was back and she started thrashing but she stilled when his words, a sultry caress upon her skin, reached her, "I promised you that you would suffer for the Boiling Rock now cease your pitiful resistance or I will bring your precious circus freak to the capitol. Then she will service me. Every. Single. Night."_

_When he was satisfied that she would no longer fight him, he lips were on skin once more. No sound escaped her throat but she knew it would be a near thing throughout this night, and those are the moments that she will wish for death, for rescue, for someone to stop him. But no one ever had._ No one ever will. _This thought had her tears spilling over. As her tears fell she heard a voice that, strangely, brought to mind the color black. "I'm proud of you for saving your friends, my little Firefly."_

_She knew nothing beyond the weight pinning her to the mattress and her father knew nothing but the punishment he visited on his weak progeny. He left her alone, broken, and bleeding in the early morning but dawn was awhile away._

_A shadow slipped into Azula's room from the balcony they'd planned Azula's assassination out weeks ago. A pair of dark blue eyes saw the blood drip off of the bed._

_The shadow was just turning to slip back out when a pain filled cry froze them in place. Indecision gripped the shadow before they took a step toward Azula's whimpering form. As they approached they saw how Azula curled in on herself. They heard the quiet sobs that told them more of Azula's agony than the whimpering did. It told them her wounds ran as deep as her soul._

_They reached out for Azula and just as their hand would have brushed against cloth, they saw Azula tense, as if she could sense their approach. They slowly stepped back and before their resolve broke water was swirling through Azula's head, coaxing her into a deep sleep. When sleep took Azula, she relaxed on the the bed, they saw the true extent of her injuries. The shadow reached for a second, smaller water skin, and uncorked it._

_They had the water around their hands and lowered it onto Azula's throat. The shadow worked diligently. And as dawn spilled into Azula's room, the shadow was gone as was the severe burn around Azula's throat. The rest of her injuries weren't as tender as they had been. She didn't notice any of this upon awakening as a giant imposing white dragon was what greeted her when she opened her eyes. It said, " **Burn the one responsible. Make little Zuzu suffer.** "_

_She was helpless to resist the command and she barely paused to don her armor before ordering an airship to be prepped for her.  
_

* * *

Her heart was pounding painfully, her breathing fast and shallow, sticky cold sweat roll down her face. A scream ripped from her dry throat as she shot upright on the bed. The memories that haunted her dreams weren't quick to fade and in this state, her mind was a mess of panic, rage, and helplessness. Her breath was quickening and her heart was racing faster as she heard a soft click and footsteps.

"Star she's awake." The unfamiliarity of the woman's voice cut through her panic like a knife through butter. With the memories finally gone, her gold eyes flitted about the dark room and landed on the speaker. It was the waterbender from that hellhole. Faint light lit the room a moment later and she scrambled back until her back hit something solid.

"Easy, I'm not here to hurt you."

"I've heard that before." Her voice cracked from disuse. The waterbender made no obvious movements. And a chuckle reached her ears. "Do you really think that Raven would let me do anything to you?"

She hated how that name calmed the instincts telling her to fry the waterbender and escape as the waterbender writhed on the ground. "Strangely no. She'd probably rip out your spine with those shadows of hers or something."

Another laugh filled the air and both of them turned to regard the third woman as she entered the room.

"Friend Raven wouldn't go that far but Rage would." Again she hated how mention of Raven elicited trust so easily from her and toward these strangers.

"What do you want?" She was in no mood for entertaining and she just wanted to sleep or set something on fire. "And where am I? This isn't the room that I was in earlier."

She saw the two woman exchange looks before the one who spoke last nodded. At that the waterbender exited the room while the other woman moved closer but not too close."We were forced to move you to a containment room when you started throwing fire around in the throes of your mares of night. In this room the flames wouldn't damage much of anything."

"As to your first question. We want to help you Friend Azula." A vice closed around her heart and squeezed it full of pain. The woman's voice was kind and she couldn't tell if there was an ulterior motive. But this woman with eyes like emeralds and a laugh like sunshine reminded her of Ty Lee. So kind, so warm, and not an ounce of guile in any way shape or form but willing to protect her from herself and her father.

Her voice was weak and soft, she hated it, as she asked one question of the woman. "Why?"

"We share the same burdens." At her searching look the woman elaborated, "Of the right to rule, of expectation, of strength, of wounded souls, of losing sense of our true selves, and of being locked up in a hellhole."

A hardness, that separated this woman from Ty Lee, solidified in the woman's eyes. Hardness forged in darkness and pain, then as quick as it was there, it was gone; replaced by warmth. "I'm not of this world Friend Azula. Or rather not earth at least. When I crash landed on earth I was being hunted. And when I met Friend Raven and the others I had just escaped my captors. But my friends broke through the hard exterior and showed me kindness. I thought them weak. They taught me that showing weakness wasn't always a bad thing."

"Weakness is unacceptable." A sigh was the woman's only response. And for a long time an uncomfortable silence stretched between them.

"On Tamaran, my home," The woman paused and when she turned her attention to the woman, "My people are warriors. We are blessed with incredible strength and the capability of flight. I made my first kill at the age of four. It was an assassination attempt on my life and my caretaker watched from the doorway.

Tamaranians are hunted mercilessly by many other races that live among the stars. We can not afford weakness in anyway or we are slaughtered like animals. Friend Raven is the only one of my friends who knows how many I've killed. She knows how much I suffer the memories so that I may remember the lives I've ended. Many times I've woken her with my screams and many times she's sung me back to sleep.

It takes a different kind of strength to reach out for help. It does not make us weak nor does it make us powerless, Friend Azula. It makes us human or well...you at least." The alien princess struggled with her speech, it was imperative that her new friend understood her.

There was a rustle of cloth and a defeated weary sigh escaped her as the woman fell silent. "Who are you?"

A smile spread across the woman's face and there was a slight pang as the smile reminded her of Ty Lee once again.

"Princess Koriand'r of Tamaran. Please call me Starfire, Friend Azula."


	14. White Light-Black Sight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **  
> _Important notes; 'Zizallen' means 'Bookkeeper' in Raven's native tongue._  
>  **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender or Teen Titans. I own only the plot/ideas/situations that I have placed the characters in and my OCs.**

* * *

**Titans Tower, 9:06 P.M; the Roof  
**

* * *

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos. Azarath Metrion Zinthos. Azarath Metrion Zinthos." The familiar chant that pierced the air and the cool breeze on her face did nothing to ease the raging inferno of emotions that threatened to destroy the tower. Still she chanted, "Azarath Metrion Zinthos. Azarath Metrion Zinthos. Azarath Metrion Zinthos-"

"Shouldn't you be down there with Starfire and Zen?" He learned a long time ago that it was better to interrupt her meditation chant after 'Zinthos' rather then in the middle of her mantra, there was a lot less blood shed that way.

"Shouldn't you have retired the traffic light gimmick already?" His wince and the subsequent flood of conflicting emotions helped drown out the ones from Azula. She grabbed a hold of his emotions like a drowning man would a life preserver.

"I still have time." She felt his frown and mouthed his next words with him. "And don't deflect, why aren't you with Starfire."

She looses a sigh and stretches like a cat in the air before setting both feet on the ground. Rather then face him directly she stares out over the ocean. "I can't stay at the tower."

"Stop deflecting." He tried to keep the frustration from showing in his voice. They both know he failed miserably.

"I'm not." He snorts and takes a step toward her, she sighs again. "Something happened the night I met her. She...somehow managed to pull my soul-self into her mind."

He kept his face carefully neutral as he joins her at the railing and gestures to her that he's listening.

"Its exactly like what happened with Slade's mask. A connection was established between our minds. I fought her Rage with my soul-self and now my Rage is more sensitive to her emotions. My empathy amplifies it and I don't want to control it." She could sense his alarm. She let him simmer in it for a moment, "I gave into Rage on Crescent Isles. I wanted to kill them all and no, it wasn't Rage controlling me. For the first time in my life I was in control, I was half-demon. But what really scares me is if it happens again, that I will be half-demon without a second thought."

He was quiet. Too quiet. She was still afraid that her friends would reject her. Then he spoke, "What little you told me about her last night was the watered down version, wasn't it? I won't ask for details." He paused for breath and as he did so, his mounting frustration and unease fizzled into nothing. "Just from hearing you say that, it tells me that her life was hell. And Ashfall was even worse if you went to extremes to get her out of there."

"That's putting it mildly." She muttered under her breath too low for him to hear.

"And," His tone of voice told her that he did, in fact, hear her and would appreciate it if she wouldn't interrupt him. "I will let you stay at one of your safe houses in North America but, you have to make an appearance at the tower if Azula asks to speak with you."

He was unprepared for the bone crushing hug that he got as a response and as she vanished to go pack or to leave, he was worried. "I should have told the JL to eat it."

* * *

**Day 1  
**

* * *

She was still in the containment room when she woke again. " _Well this is certainly a step up from that frozen hell._ "

She wanted to close her eyes and go back to sleep but she knew it was an exercise in futility; the black dragon plagued her dreams just as the white dragon plagued her every waking moment.

" _Are you ignoring me?_ " She turned away from its glimmering scales, they burned bright and hurt her eyes. _I wish I still had those sunglasses._

" _You are ignoring me. Princess,_ " She heard the falsity and mocking in its tone. " _I'm hurt. But it is no matter to me, eventually you will talk._ "

Her eyes clouded over. The next time she was 'conscious' of her actions, she was breathing raggedly and there were black scorch marks on the floor, walls, and ceiling. The black was flashing at the edges of her vision and just before she passed out, she noted that the strange blue symbols on the wall were completely untouched and glowing faintly.

* * *

**Day 4  
**

* * *

Starfire was next to her on the floor of the containment cell. They were meditating, a single candle in front of them. As her breathing fell in to a steady rhythm, she reflected on how drastically her life had changed.

She was no longer a prisoner, of course she didn't actually believe that, not at first. And it was quite the shock when they let her leave the room after she'd asked. Especially so soon after she'd had an episode and attacked Starfire. Though she wasn't allowed to roam about their home unaccompanied, in case of further episodes.

On the topic of Starfire, she was unsettled. Here was a woman who reminded her so much of Ty Lee, always so kind and quick to forgive. Except that hardness that rested in emerald eyes, that have seen and experienced too much. Ghosts and malevolence just waiting beneath the surface. Ty Lee could get angry and possessed a deadliness if pushed but the acrobat wasn't disabused of the inherent goodness in the world. Not the way Starfire was and herself for that matter.

Then there was the waterbender, Zen Ji. The waterbender was Fire Nation nobility and seemed alright enough. But Zen was also her self-appointed doctor. The waterbender was smart though, only asking her to eat what she could of the rather tasty broth that they fed her.

And finally Raven. She was a complete mystery. The woman had single handedly subjugated Rage with the very shadows and then healed her injuries with three words. Though there was that moment of panic when those shadows had prevent her from moving however it was not pain that followed, but hope.

" _Yes that's right._ " Its voice threw off her breathing and when she opened her eyes it was slowly coiling its too warm body around hers.

" _Such weakness to depend on someone else's power._ " She clenched her jaw and barely stopped words from leaving her mouth.

" _What happened to 'weakness is unacceptable'? Come on kid, it wouldn't take much to over power that weakling next to you. And the waterbender she's easily crushed._ " She felt the space between them become stifling.

" _Then the true test of your power and proof of your strength, killing Raven._ ** _She's the reason I'm here. Make her suffer, make her feel what we do._** " Her world exploded with orange fire and flashes of black.

* * *

**Day 8  
**

* * *

Today she was outside and got her first glimpse of the tower. It was huge and shaped like a 'T', it was amazing; even more so when she was told that her minder for today, Cyborg, had built it from the ground up. _Too many windows and not easily defensible from the air or sea._

Eventually her eyes returned to the ocean and stared out over the tranquil surface. The very sight of it made her angry. She was once like it, at peace. No stupid dragons, visions, or fear that this was all some ruse cooked up by her family; by Zuzu. It was just like him to paint her as the villain. He got mother's love and attention even her uncle liked him better. Zuzu was pathetic and stupid but once, a long time ago, he was hers.

Her memories of that time were hazy and overshadowed by her father. Even then she was drawn in like a moth to a flame. He praised her, gave her what she craved, and when she'd lash out, he smiled. Oh how she loved that smile once, before it became a snarl, before it promised suffering for failure and weakness. Then there was cousin Lu Ten, he always had time for her even when her father didn't. Lu Ten never had expectations of her just, easy acceptance. Then he died and she hid her grief from everyone because her father would have been disgusted at the weakness.

_I just wanted them to accept me. Mother, Zuzu, and even uncle fuddy duddy. I wonder if they..._

" _Well go on. I'm dying to know what it is that you think would have been different?_ " She repressed the urge to scream as well as spit fire at the white muzzle that broke the surface of the ocean.

" _Still not talking, eh?_ " The dragon grinned at her lack of response. Its teeth were stained red and its breath smelled like rotten meat. " _Let me tell you that if those obstacles accepted you, like Lu Ten, you'd be even weaker than you are now. Rage and domination is in your blood. You can not escape it. Given into it, drown in it, and make the world tremble at your might._ "

_The door clanged shut. The laughter echoing off of the walls made her want to plunge an ice pick in her ears, just to drown it out. Darkness rushes in and the cell disappears. A scream wakes her. Her mind is racing as abruptly the sound cuts off and then there is a terrible scrunch of metal. The shadow over the door had just crushed it into nothingness. The fluttering of a cloak and a pair of familiar violet eyes meet hers through the darkness. The next few minutes pass in confusion and then blessed relief, her injuries are simply gone._

_She is heedless of the other presence and before she can stop it, "Why? Why are you doing all this? Who the hell are you?"_

_"Your uncle showed me great kindness..."_

Her eyes and mind had drowned the dragon out. _Uncle fuddy duddy sent her but why._

" _That is unimportant kid. I'll be surprised if you can bare to ask for that which makes you weak._ " The surge of white-hot heat was familiar and it was a near thing but for once she did not give into its taunts. And for the first time she held her head high as Cyborg led her back to the containment cell. It was only after he closed the door that the flames poured forth.

Later as she collapsed onto the bed from her episode she smiled for the first time since that accursed Agni Kai but this time it wasn't crooked or forced, it was easy. _One step forward._

" _So naive._ " She was too tired to firebend. Her smile vanished as the dragon burned even brighter. _Two steps back._

Blackness was all that answered her thoughts.

* * *

**Day 13  
**

* * *

When her eyes opened the dragon was gone. She didn't trust it to remain gone for long. _Might as well as take advantage of the reprieve._

It was a long shot but never the less when Starfire entered the containment cell she spoke and for the first time it wasn't to drown out the white dragon or escape it. "I'd like to practice my bending tomorrow."

" _Good luck._ " And there it was, the black dragon. It had finally switched places with the white one. It's presence wasn't as overwhelming as the white one nor did it try to actively provoke her like the white one either.

"Of course Friend Azula."

As they settled on the floor for mediation she easily fell into a steady breathing rhythm. It didn't even break when she felt the soothing coolness of the black scales as they closed around her, its breath in sync with hers.

* * *

**Jump City, 10:00 A.M./Day 14  
**

* * *

The sky was clear, the sun made the streets of the city sparkle, and a pleasant breeze hailed it as a perfect day. But the denizens of Jump grew wary of days like today because such perfection would often come to an abrupt and violent end.

WHOOSH, glass, fragments of steel, and particles of dust hung suspended in the air, rather than rain down on the screaming crowd below. The massive explosion ripped a hole through the side of one of Jump's many buildings in the city's bank district.

"Ha," A slim figure in a hideous black jumpsuit with white armor attached in various places laughed at the destruction. "Nothing can withstand the power of light."

"Of course not. Light is great and powerful, like you." He was all smiles as he turned to the speaker. "Ah another whose seen the l-l-li-ght."

It was her turn to grin as the sharp edges to his fear saturated the air between them. That little catch in his voice was very satisfying as well as the stutter. "Re-"

"I'd like to go to jail now, p-please." The color drained from his face when no other Titan stepped out of the shadows to slap him in hand cuffs. The rest of the warmth fled his body when the amused grin on her face turned into a sneer.

For the last two weeks she hunted him with a whole new viciousness, that she took a sick pleasure in. "It is rude to interrupt someone when they are talking."

* * *

**6 miles outside of Jump; Headquarters of the meta-human prison facility, 10:04 A.M./Day 14  
**

* * *

"I think you've misplaced something," She glared up at the monitor as she threw Dr. Light from the inside of her cloak's shadow. "and would it kill you to hold him for more than a couple of days at a time?"

She did not wait for a reply and as she slowly descended into a pool of shadow at her feet she leveled an emotionless gaze at Dr. Light. "If you break out again. The darkness will be a permanence in your mind."

* * *

Her destination and 'safe house' would've surprised all of her teammates; the old library. The library was more of a fortified bunker than safe house but that was only if someone managed to get inside. She left the outside architecture the same, crumbling marble columns and archways. The only thing that was destroyed beyond recognition was the mark of Scath above the main entrance.

Though nobody but a teleporter could even get inside but if they didn't want to end up a black scorch mark, they'd better have an affinity for fire magic to even breach the initial wards. Then they'd have to be capable of nullifying hellfire and demon rune-warriors. That's assuming they made it passed her minions that sprung up and stalked anyone who crossed the boundaries of her protective rune array, that spread fifteen feet in every direction.

Humans were easily directed away from the general area but meta-humans that wandered in were detained until she got around to checking the holding cells. It left a bad taste in her mouth after she finished the ten month project. But it was necessary. Shortly after Trigon's ascension the church of Blood started raiding the place, trying to gain access to the chambers below.

She fell exhausted into a black leather lazy boy and released a breath.

_'Azula's agitated more than usual today.' Intelligence sounded as worn as she felt. Over the last two weeks all of the inhabitants of Nevermore were affected by the emotional connection to Azula. It was bad enough that she could barely keep control of the eldritch fire before the connection. But now they were practically shedding the stuff like dandruff._

_'I thought distance would have worked.' The silence from her mistress was distressing to say the least._

_'I'd still like to know how we were pulled in.' At the affronted look from Intelligence she rushed to get out, 'I did apologize and I'm not trying to start another fight. I'm just frustrated. We can't even mediate to mitigate the fluctuations.'_

_The two fell silent, content to wallow in the mire of misery and confusion. Until, 'We can't just cool our heels. Sooner or later Azula's going to ask to see us.'_

_Raven shot the emote an incredulous look. 'We've done everything we can. Its up to Starfire and Zen to help her out of the pit of madness.'_

_'I don't think it will be that simple.' Intelligence frowned, brow furrowed as she absentmindedly sifted through the book containing what they saw of Azula's life. Then as she turned the page to Azula's fight with Aang in the caverns below Ba Sing Sei, she felt an incredible surge of power or memory echo. The Echo sounded throughout Intelligence's library._

_"If you ever find that you have more questions then answers, Wan Shi Tong requested that I pass on a message; the words of home and a collector's trove of paper and ink will bring you through the well."_

_Raven leveled a glare at the emote whose expression was a touch annoyed. 'Don't look at me like that. I had nothing to do with that Echo.'_

_'Besides we do have more questions then answers.'_

_A long suffering sigh was the response. 'Fine we'll go to his library.'  
_

_Intelligence almost jumped up and danced a jig then and there but with a herculean effort, got the urge under control as their mistress left the library. But as soon as she was gone, the emote danced for all she was worth. And as Intelligence finally finished, 'I'll give you five points for effort and four for originality.'_

_White faced and embarrassed beyond belief Intelligence turned but rather then Candy, she was met with Affection. 'Please inform our mistress that we need to talk the next time she's here.'_

_As she watched Affection saunter off, she breathed a sigh of relief._

_'Oh and,' Suddenly Affection was behind her, pressed against her back, warm breath exhaling past her ear. 'Thirty points for how captivating your dance was.'_

_Her throat had gone dry and her blood thrummed uncomfortably hot beneath her skin, even more so when she felt Affection's arms moved to encircle her waist. She knew her face had a light dusting of pink. 'S-so glad you liked it.'_

_Her voice shook as her ear was nipped gently by Affection, 'Liked?'_

_Was that disappointment she detected, it was hard to tell by their tone. But then she felt a hand on her chin and it was turned slightly to the left. Soft lips were pressed to her cheek. 'I loved it.'_

_'O-Oh.' Her knees were weak and her heart was racing as those lips captured hers. It was chaste and over far too soon but her ever accursed curiosity reared its ugly head, 'W-What are you doing?'_

_She didn't want to it to stop but their mistress would feel the shift of their thoughts._

_'Practice. You're going to need it.' She gulped and perhaps, it was anticipation or their empathy but the questions had died as those deviously soft lips were on hers once more. Fortunately for the two emotes Raven was far too distracted by informing Starfire of her imminent departure to notice anything amiss with her thoughts._

"Zizallen."

* * *

There were bookshelves as far as the eye could see; books, scrolls, and stone tablets were every which way. There was no denying it, she was drooling and contemplated never leaving. There wasn't a single obnoxious person or a creepy librarian in sight. And it was even better than she imagined, better than the images that Azar's descriptions painted for her of Wan Shi Tong's library.

Footsteps cruelly shattered the illusion of abandonment as they drew near. She turned to face the person approaching and froze. The woman walking closer was none other than librarian Ashlin. Raven had met her at a small specialized library that dealt with authentic magical tomes on the outskirts of Jump.

"It's been too long Raven." Ashlin's smile was genuine and her eyes danced with mischief.

"Ash," She was shocked at seeing the librarian here of all places. "what are you doing here?"

A perfectly sculpted brow rose. "I should be asking you that but it isn't every day that Wan Shi Tong tells me to greet his guests. Please follow me, he doesn't like to wait."

The journey through miles of bookshelves and columns carved with intricate spirals was silent. A set of massive green oak doors slowly creaked open as they turned down a long hallway, devoid of bookshelves. "Ash go attend to your other duties and make sure professor Zei isn't slacking off again."

Her guide bowed low and turned back the way they'd come. She didn't take another step forward as she assessed Wan Shi Tong. When Iroh first told her of the knowledge spirit, she'd thought of owls and snakes.

"Please step into my office."

She made no move to do so. She saw his muscles tense and his eyes narrowed. "I don't think so. I don't trust shady spirits who kidnap innocent people and horde knowledge for knowledge's sake."

The tension in the air was thick. Almost suffocating as he took a step toward her.

"They abused it."

She snorted, "You got burned once and then threw a tantrum when a couple of kids were trying to end a war by lying to you."

He bristled and reared back, then he struck. Only to be flung back as talons of shadow rose up to protect the woman.

"You want something from me." His struggles stopped as she spoke. He felt a chill spread as she took as step toward him. "I will perform this task. But you will surrender Ashlin's contract and professor Zei's."

"You dare-"

"Or I could have Uncle Koh come and steal your face." Her face was as inexpressive as her tone of voice. She drew level with him, her cloak billowing in a non-existent wind. "Its funny that you think I need you when, really, its you that needs me. Take my deal or leave it. I could always seek other sources for information."

When he remained silent for too long, she turned and started walking away from him. "I bid you farewell Wan Shi Tong."

"Wait," The talons that were holding him down vanished and he was dismayed to see her still walking away from him. "I accept." When even that didn't stop her, he grew desperate and he threw himself in the air. He landed awkwardly in front of her.

"What now?" He was taken aback at how she could sound so thoroughly annoyed yet speak with no inflection.

"You don't even know what it is that I wish from you."

She answered him with two words. "Time travel."

* * *

**Titans Tower; Training room/Day 14  
**

* * *

"Is Star going to be okay in there?" The waterbender wasn't sure that it was a good idea to let Azula practice her bending, at least not until her episodes were less frequent. But the waterbender relented after helping the Titans fire proof their training room. Still she was worried.

"Heh." She glanced away from the observation window to see if he was, in fact, chuckling, he was. "You should be asking if Azula will be okay. Starfire is no push over and she can handle anything that the princess can throw at her."

She looked at him like he'd grown a second head. "No, really, Starfire is stronger than I am. I even have some instructional training videos to prove it."

She wasn't convinced as she turned her attention back to the window.

* * *

_I can't believe they're actually going to let me do this._ It was surreal how free she appeared to be. But she couldn't trust it despite the fact that she did. She took a moment to study the area and immediately noticed a lot of strange equipment that was off to one side. _No distractions, focus._

As she began stretching she ignored the black dragon at the edge of her vision. If she had to choose between the two and seeing them for the rest of her life, she pick the black one. " _Of course you'd choose the weaker path._ "

Her mind froze but her body went through the motions. She had never seen both dragons at once, at least not while she was awake.

" _That's enough out of you._ " She wanted to shake her head but she was hyper aware of Starfire's presence behind her. The two dragons were talking to each other.

"Starfire you shouldn't be in here."

" _Tch, why are you even worried for that thing's safety._ " A huge plume of smoke enveloped him and an agitated hiss made the smoke ripple.

" _Silence you._ "

She couldn't take it anymore. "What do you want from me."

Both dragons turned from their staring contest to gaze at her.

" _Oh so now you want to talk._ " He was annoyed.

" _Better late then never._ " Her voice was kind.

"What. Do. You. Want. From. Me." This wasn't going to be pretty.

Both dragons were circling now and with each rotation they got closer and closer, the white dragon spoke first. " _I want to see how weak you've made yourself. Your bending won't be anything special. I bet even a beginner could best you. And lightning? Forget about it_."

She tossed a fireball at him, he dodged it easily. " _Hehe. See I told you, weakness is unacceptable._ "

A vortex of black-gray flame engulfed the whiteness. " _Don't listen to him, his words are poison._ "

" _Like you're one to talk._ " He was completely unharmed as he rose above the ashes to loom over her. " _She prefers the strictly hands off approach. Allowing your weakness to fester beneath your skin like an infection._ "

A black tail slashed through the air so fast that a blazing line of flames was left behind in its wake. The white dragon went flying across the training room. " _I, at least, don't pressure the little firefly._ "

_Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale._

With a snarl the white dragon lunged for its counterpart, clawing and biting. The black dragon nimbly shifted away from each attack, humming softly as it did so. The humming enraged the white dragon further, driving it into a frenzy. White flames and smoke filled the room. Then she felt it. It was too hot. She was losing control. Static was crackling in the air.

The dragons were snapping at each other, flames, lashing tails, and enraged growls filled the air. Too loud. Her breathing was out of control. Her arms were in motion as a cold soothing emptiness slowed the world around her.

The black dragon was frozen above the white, the black one's lower serpentine body coiled around the white one's fore and back limbs. Glimmering white teeth poised an inch before they met with the white scales across the white one's belly, a dark cloud interspersed with flashes of white building at the back of its throat. The white dragon's upper body was entwined around the black one's wings, its mouth closed around one wing where it met the back of the black one, its neck muscles tensed to rip the black one's left wing off.

The crackling grew to fever pitch and then her world was plunged into darkness as the cold soothing emptiness slipped away.

* * *

**Wan Shi Tong's Library; Fire Nation Archives/Day 17  
**

* * *

She resisted the urge to slam the delicate tome closed but her soul-self was another matter as a copy of the book was perforated by talons of shadows. "I've been here for three days and still can't find it."

"You know," Her soul-self conjured a miniature version of her Uncle Koh that crawled across her shoulders as she turned to glare at the owner of the voice. Ash's smile just grew wider. "there's a reason why Wan Shi Tong entrapped me here."

"To scare the hell out of unsuspecting patrons?" Her eyebrow twitched and the mini-Koh screeched as Ash started giggling and made no attempts to be quiet about it.

"Sorry." An unrepentant smile was directed at her. "What are you trying to find?"

"Information about the royal family." She said and was too absorbed in fighting back her soul-self as a torrent of emotions from Azula hit her like a sledge hammer, to notice Ash's frown.

"I guess there's no choice." At this she looked at Ash and was struck by how forlorn her friend seemed.

"I'm from the Fire Nation. A noble family that was close to the ruling class during Azulon's reign."

"Wha- how are you? But you were..." She brought her hands up to massage her temples and stave off her growing migraine. "I'm so confused."

"Its the library or specifically Wan Shi Tong's. You see he can move it to any world or dimension of his choosing. He's a very ancient and powerful knowledge spirit. If there is a library in the world he chooses, he can move his library or anyone of his agents to it and then-"

"Inverse occupation." She couldn't help interrupting Ash's explanation as the dots connected.

Ash nodded and continued, "Anyways I was inside the royal library roughly eleven years ago when one of Wan Shi Tong's knowledge seekers abducted me. And I've been in his service ever since. It was five years later that he desired a change of location and brought us to your world; I quickly fell in love with it. But sooner or later I know that he'll move it or me."

"So what do you want to know?"

"You wouldn't happen to know if Azula was related to an avatar, would you?" She knew her question had surprised Ash.

"What makes you think she is?" Ash said, a hint of curiosity coloring her tone.

She pursed her lips and thought of how much or little to say. After a few moments of indecision passed. "Her bending is unusually powerful. Not a single avatar has ever been capable of bending blue flames; despite them supposedly being the most powerful bender. Her morals often slid from one extreme to another and she constantly seeks balance. Right now her mind and heart are locked in a constant cycle of imbalance, each one fighting the other."

"Avatar Roku is her great-grandfather. I overheard lady Ursa and general Iroh-

Before any more could be said, an out of breath middle aged man burst into the room. "You have to leave! Wan Shi Tong has begun sealing the library."

With a speed that would make Kid Flash jealous she was across the room and standing in front of the panting man. "Professor Zei," When his attention was on her, "Do you know where Wan Shi Tong imprisoned Rorek?"

Both the professor and Ash were alarmed at her question. She waved both of them off. "Time travel is weird and is one of very few things that are set in stone. I was always meant to travel back in time and save this section of the library. Just as I was meant to leave behind a certain book. Do you know where Rorek is?"

Professor Zei nodded stiffly.

"Good both of you need to go free him. I wish I could help but..."

She was very caught off guard when Ash gave her a bone crushing hug and when the woman stepped back, flashed her a wide grin. "But time travel is also costly."

"Go. The professor and I will be just fine." And in the blink of an eye, Professor Zei and Ash were gone.

_'You're not seriously thinking of leaving them?!'_

_'Not that I'm not happy to see you Courage but where's Intelligence?' She was taken aback at their mistress's lax attitude to their situation._

_'Is now really the time to be...' She trailed off as she realized what their mistress was doing. 'So that's why you left Rorek's book with him.'_

_Raven was officially confused even more so then when Ash revealed her secret to her ten minutes ago. Her emotions were beyond hopeless right now and she could not deal with anymore emotional upheaval. 'Never mind. And yes, as much as I hate this. We're leaving them.'_

_'I won't let you.'_

_She quirked a brow at the emote. 'So how are we going to beat Wan Shi Tong?'_

_'With fire obviously.'_

_Her eyebrow twitched but if she was honest with herself, she could probably manage to control a blast of it. 'What about Malchior?'_

_She detected the slightest moment of hesitation in the emote. Then all the blood drained from Courage's face. 'Rorek can handle it.'_

_She made sure that Courage could feel the amusement and the shake of her head. 'Courage?'_

_'Yes?'_

_'Timid's rubbing off on you.' At her indigent squawk, Raven chuckled. A breath later and out loud she said,_ "Izenilanlzi."


	15. Fortune Is A Fickle Beast

**Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans or Avatar the Last Airbender. I own only the plots/ideas/situations that I have placed the characters in and my OCs.**

* * *

  **Earth; Undisclosed Location/Day 14  
**

* * *

Every breath was measured and even; the candle's flame flared and shrunk with each. It felt just as exhilarating as when he first learned to harness his chi for bending. He was beyond skeptical of the so called 'Brotherhood' when they approached him, claiming to have a way to return his bending. But now he relished the flames that he could once more command at will.

His lips curled up in distaste as he felt his solitude being invaded but he schooled his features to a blank mask as the gangly teenager lead him from his room. It was sparsely furnished; a bed and footlocker at the end of said bed. As he understood it, this was his temporary abode.

The walk was silent and short, the building was small and again, a temporary base. He was waved into the room by his guide and was instantly aggravated when he heard his guide enter behind him. Temporary command center or not, the room he entered was covered in strange runic markings, symbols of dubious origin, and a low hum hung in the air. In the middle sat a long rectangular table with a dozen chairs around it, six were occupied.

He was prodded forward by his guide and was gestured to sit in the chair next to an imposing man wearing a half-orange, half-black mask. As he settled the Brain's strange voice pierced the air. "Mr. Ozai, I trust there are no problems with the return of your abilities?"

"None that I've come across in this last week."

"Excellent." He repressed the urge to sneer at this creature but he did swear loyalty upon the return of his bending and for now he'd obey.

"Now as to why we're here." At this the over head light's dimmed and a series of images began playing directly in front of him. _What is this magic..._

He could have swore that the masked man on his right had chucked at his expense he quickly dismissed that thought as he heard. "Did Raven say when she'd be back?"

The speaker was a young man and he estimated his age as the same as his miserable excuse of a son's. He wore a mask over his eyes and was dressed in the bright and clashing colors, red, yellow, and green.

"Friend Raven said she would be gone for as long as it took to find answers." He stared slack jawed at the woman who was hovering in the air, a few feet away from the building that the young man was perched on. The young man sighed, "Figures." A moment of silence. "How's Azula doing?"

He barely managed to keep his face carefully blank as the young man casually mentioned his daughter. "Friend Azula is still suffering episodes. I managed to alter the containment room to factor in Friend Azula's lightning strikes. She's yet to suffer an episode today."

"And she still hasn't asked after Raven?"

The young man's question would never be answered as the flying woman shot off like a rocket, weaving in and out between the tall buildings. The young man followed closely behind her. The images on the table were replaced with a map. A map he instantly recognized, it was a map of the Earth Kingdom. Though part if it was labeled the United Republic. That section of the map, he was sure, used to be the Fire colonies.

The over head lights grew brighter and, "It seems as though the half-demon has given us an unanticipated opportunity. The permanent removal of their capacity to hunt us beyond this dimension."

He was confused and a little uneasy at hearing the term 'half-demon' but he wasn't about to show this Brotherhood any weakness.

"Mr. Slade I will put you in charge of this operation and Mr. Ozai shall be placed at your disposal. Master Psimon please give them any information that they may find useful." The masked man to his right inclined his head and a man just as strange as the Brain, directly across from him, also inclined his faintly glowing head.

"Now to business. Monsieur Mallah, Plasmus, and Madam Rouge have confirmed the location of the Titans that remain. Team Black Magic and the green one have volunteered to help General Beifong patrol this border." A black line turned red on the map and he noted that it was the same section that said 'United Republic'.

"Warp, General Immortus, you two will handle the deployment of our modified automatons. Then help the others secure Ba Sing Se."

He frowned deeply at what he was hearing and despite not knowing what an 'automaton' was, he didn't like this. Ba Sing Se was a walled fortress with the largest concentration of earthbenders in the world guarding it. He kept silent.

"Mr. Slade is your side project ready for deployment?" He somehow knew the masked man on his right was smiling and he shivered a little. _Is this what it feels like to be afraid?_   As much as he hated to admit it the masked man next to him was frightening, otherworldly so.

"The geo-mancer has undergone strenuous pre-programming and is being retro-fitted with nano-receivers as we speak. I sent Madam Rouge with the transmitters. The geo-mancer will remain in stasis until she's in range of the transmitters."

"Very good, Mr. Slade, it seems we are lucky to have recruited you." The masked man inclined his head and fell silent.

"Mr. Slade our operations will begin at 2200 hours in three days. Take care of the Titans on this end beforehand." Once more the masked man on his right inclined his head.

* * *

It was surreal how fast things were moving. After the meeting he was whisked away to another base by Mr. Slade. His first impression of Slade and his subsequent fear was accurate. It made him feel very small and almost helpless. He did not like that feeling and it irked him to be taking orders from an inferior. But he didn't dare push his luck.

For the last two days he was given a crash course on the Tower and the three titans that he would, likely face if their distraction was discovered for the ruse it was. He was still a little confused about everything since his unexpected release but he pushed those thoughts away as the boat landed on the island's rocky shore. As he made to jump ashore, his partner stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. "Wait."

A rustle of cloth and then a soft 'click'. Seconds later an ungodly sound that could have risen the dead blasted through the air and cut out just as quickly. "Now."

He did not hesitate as his partners henchmen rushed the tower in droves.

* * *

**Titan's Tower, 10:57 P.M.; Common area/Day 17  
**

* * *

"This is so not fair!"

She grinned showing off perfectly white teeth and cackled madly when she spied the tears trailing down his face. "Turn about is fair play Cy."

"Best two out of three?" She was highly amused at his utter dismay at losing to her, and the fact that she beat his highest score.

"Hmm...nope." She'd have been worried that Azula was rubbing off on her, considering the time she spent healing the princess's minor burns post-episode but she has always been this vindictive. Plus Cyborg was absolutely way too easy to pick on, the guy had no shame in demolishing her when he'd introduced her to the odd device.

"Robbie...make Zen be nice..."

The man in question's eyebrow twitched and he made a point of ignoring his pleading robotic teammate. "Retribution."

At this Cyborg collapsed in a heap and had the most pathetic look on his face. He looked so miserable that she relented. "Bring it on tin man."

The way he visibly perked up in half a second with the biggest smile and that twinkle in his eye, was worth the aggravation in her opinion.

They were on the fourth lap out of eight when the screen cut out and a giant 'S' flashed across the screen as sirens rang throughout the room. "Slade."

She was taken aback at the amount of vitriol in Cyborg's tone and even more so when he violently jabbed a button on his arm, shutting the sirens off.

"Zen," She turned to face Robin. "Star and Azula are in the training room on the fifth floor."

She was already up and moving before he finished but just as the lift's door slid shut she heard, "Tell her its Slade."

The ride up took forever. As soon as the door was open enough she slipped out and ran straight for the training room. She slammed her hand over the scanner and burst into the room. "Starfire. The alert was for some guy named Slade."

"Friend Zen," Again she was at a loss for the sheer amount of deadliness in the woman's voice. "Please ensure that Friend Azula makes it safely to the containment room."

At her nod, Starfire vanished. Azula's eyes were on her the instant that Starfire left. She met those fiery gold eyes without hesitation.

"Please follow me."

She breathed a little easier when Azula broke eye contact and waved for her to lead the way. An eerie silence descended as they made their way through the fifth level of the tower. It wasn't a comfortable silence and her left hand was unconsciously hovering over the water skin at her waist.

"What is it?" She very nearly screamed at the top of her lungs. Instead she glanced back at Azula who, for the moment, was lucid.

"It feels like the calm before the storm. Its-" A foot connected with her back and she tumbled along the floor for a few seconds. When she came to a stop, her back was on fire and she was winded. She pushed through the pain to jump to her feet and she spun, expecting a fire spewing Azula advancing on her. Instead she saw the former fire ford crouching on the ground with a fire dagger in one hand, right where she had been standing.

"Still as useless as ever and protecting weaklings no less." She watched as Ozai, who somehow got his bending back, turned his back on her to face his unusually calm daughter.

"I happen to find that waterbending half-breed useful." Somehow she felt honored to hear that from Azula. Especially after almost getting hit with lighting yesterday while trying to restrain her during an episode.

"She might betray you. Like that circus freak." She saw Azula's face slowly fall and then the hallway exploded with blue flames. She barely had the presence of mind to create a dome of water to block the torrent of flame. The little water that she had was quickly evaporating and just as the last of it was gone, more flames were rushing toward her.

As she dived to the floor and rolled under the ball of blue, there was suddenly water raining down from the ceiling dousing everything; especially the two firebenders. She was grinning like a fool as she rose from the ground. And just as she was about to freeze the former fire lord in place, another blast of blue forced her back. The door on her right, the same one that she had been standing in front of, was violently ejected from its frame. Dozens of armored soldiers poured out of the opening, blocking her off from the dueling firebenders, well only Azula had any luck producing fire at the moment.

She swirled the abundance of water in the air around the soldiers and with one final rotation, the massive concentration of water compressed into the soldiers. There was no sound, no screams, or pleas as the soldiers were crushed. She watched fascinated as the soldiers seemed to bend inward on themselves. A viscous liquid poured into the water turning it black. Her face drained of all color as she realized it was oil, at the same time she saw an errant wall of blue wash over the oil laden water.

She groggily looked around and saw that she'd been blown clear down the hallway and would have kept going if it weren't for the wall behind her. Her vision filled with flashes of blue and orange, then there was a maniacal laugh that raised the hairs on the back of her neck. A moment later and everything went black as she slid slowly down the wall.

* * *

**Earth Kingdom, Night; Border of the United Republic/Day 34  
**

* * *

Dull pearly green orbs cracked open and narrowed. _That felt weird...almost like..._

The blind general shot to her feet and sent a mini quake throughout their camp. Everyone was very much awake after that.

"Ba Sing Se's under attack by a very powerful earthbender," The majority of the assembled troops under her command were very confused at this. Jinx and Beast Boy traded uneasy looks as she continued, "And there's several hundred metal soldiers..."

"General Beifong how can that be?"

"General Immortus." The people surrounding Beast Boy with the exception of Jinx and Mammoth, took several steps away from him.

"Wha-"

"Toph are you sure they're metal?" Her eyes seemed to bore into him.

"Yes. There's also something causing irregular tremors in the ground. But there's no way any earthbender besides me and Twinkle Toes has that kind of oomph. At least not enough to send a seismic vibration out so far."

"We're going to Ba Sing Se." He said with a slight shake in his voice.

She snorted, "The only way we'd make it before the city's wiped off the map is if you can fly all of us there."

"I can turn into a sky bison," He grinned sheepishly, "and I almost have the flying with air bending bit down."

"Well let's-"

"Kyd can get us there faster." The silent man in question nodded when everyone glanced his way.

She refrained from burying her most recent student in several tons of rock when she mentioned the silent specter. "Is it going to be anything at all like flying?"

"No."

"How many can he take with him at once?"

"Four."

She took a deep breath and steeled herself for 'faster' as she said, "He's taking me, you, the goofball, and the Dark One."

She held up a hand to forestall the inevitable, "Then he'll come back for the rest of the troops, we're not going to win this one but at least they can help us evacuate the city."

As soon as she was finished she felt a soft material spread over her skin. The four of them were dropped into chaos. Smoke, indistinguishable cries for help, and rocks filled the air around them.

"Oh foul-" He was cut off as a metal arm forced him back.

"Fight now, poetry later Dark One." She proceed this statement by ripping that very same metal arm off and using it to slice the rest of the soldier in half. She felt the field of rocks around them shift. She barely managed to get an earth tent up in time.

"Okay that one's mine." She grunted as more rocks rained down on her shield. It was like fighting Twinkle Toes in the avatar state. She heard a pained whine come from behind. Then she saw Gar collapse. "Terra."

"Gar don't you dare wimp out on me." She heard him growl. She grit her teeth and reinforced the shield as a rock shaped fist slammed against it. "Listen, right now we can't afford to lose focus. There are thousands of people in this city and the Dai Lee are getting their asses handed to them. We need to protect and evacuate as many as we can. You are no use to anyone like this. Go with the Dark One and help with the evacuation. Let me and Jinx handle your girlfriend."

"Yes sir." He was gone in a flash.

"Jinxy, do you remember what I told you to never, ever do again that time we we're training?"

"Yeah..." Jinx trailed off and her patented Cheshire cat grin spread across her face. "Do it and get me as close as you can. And don't you dare let me fall to my death. I still have more lily livers to teach."

The blind general's stomach was in her mouth as she felt the first brush of wind against her skin and then, they were flying.

* * *

**Kyoshi Island, Sunset; Training area behind the dojo/Day 36  
**

* * *

"Suki?" She sighed and gestured for Ty to sit but when her acrobat made to do so with space between them, her arm shot out and she gently pulled Ty close to her side. A smile tugged at the corners of her mouth at the surprised look on Ty's face. "After the pirate raid and Ba Sing Se...I don't care anymore."

With that her acrobat happily settled and the two sat, enjoying the early evening silence. But it didn't last. "You know Zuko better than anyone. Why would he do this?"

She could feel the frown and the nervous fidgeting, that usually meant that she wasn't about to like the answer. And she was right. "I don't think he did."

As she was about to retort, Ty shifted and she repressed the urge to return the hug. Ty's hugs were addictive to her.

"That Terra girl is strong supporting evidence for Gar and Black Magic's version of events. And there's Toph as well." She deflated a bit at the truth in Ty's words. But despite Katara's recent openness, a hundred years of war is hard to forget. Katara, Aang, and Sokka were being stubborn idiots about Ba Sing Se. _Even I can't bring myself to believe Gar and his friends._

"Still it seems highly suspicious and Zuko hasn't exactly been willing to compromise with the other world leaders over various issues since the war's end." She felt Ty nod and the two fell silent once more.

"I know this is going to sound far-fetched and very unlikely but could it have been the Brotherhood like Gar claimed"

It was her turn to frown as she mulled over what Ty had said. "Its as likely as a rogue faction of the Fire Nation trying to start the war up again."

"I believe him. Do you think...that Raven's made any progress with..."

She was suddenly very tired and wanted nothing more than to sleep and forget the last month and a half. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply, hoping to quell the jealousy that welled up at Ty's vague mention of Azula. _I hate this. Every damn time she brings up Azula. And I can't even properly dislike Azula either because of how miserable Ty looks when Azula is brought up._

Her body was rigid and her heart broke when Ty began to pull away. "Please don't. Don't pull away. I'm not angry. " She forced her muscles to loosen up. "Azula's just so..."

A half-sob, half giggle sounded and she was once again forcing her body to relax. "Yeah Zula has that effect on people."

"So how exactly did you two become friends?" She was shocked that that question just came out of her mouth.

And Ty's shock was just as evident in her eyes as she gazed up at Suki. Then Suki saw a warmth in Ty's smile that had never been there before. It was physically painful and something of it must have been visible for she heard, "You're the first person to ever ask me that. Not even Mai has ever wondered. But are you sure you want to know?"

As quickly as the pain was there it was gone, that warmth hadn't been for Azula. All she could do was nod as her words abandoned her, and she didn't really care.

"The year I began at the Royal Fire Academy for Girls was the same year that half of the dorms would burn down. One of the girls in my class, Akumei, was just beginning her firebending lessons and turned out to be a fire-starter."

"A fire-starter?"

"Yep. Its a term given to firebenders who can't control their chi when they sleep and inadvertently start fires. Anyway I was, unfortunately, Akumei's room mate. It was the heat that woke me up. She was throwing fireballs everywhere and after I was almost hit in the face with one, Akumei became the first person I chi blocked after my sister died. Of course it wasn't that easy. I don't know how long I'd been trying to get to her and trying to avoid getting burned at the same time but at some point, Zula reached the room.

I was sweating buckets and breathing hard, next to Akumei when Zula says, 'You seem a lot more resourceful than your empty-headed sisters.' I was too tired to respond with words so I just shrugged at her. But as she turned to leave, she had this look in her eyes...at first I thought it was respect but I later realized that it was fear.

After the last of the fires were put out that night, I was assigned to Zula's room. She personally requested me to be her room mate. Zula wasn't as princess-y in the Academy than she was at the palace. She was more pleasant but still prone to setting idiots on fire."

"She was afraid of you. She was probably pretending or something." She felt Ty stiffen next to her. She sighed deeply. "Why do you think she was afraid of you?"

Ty shook her head, "Zula wasn't afraid of me. She was afraid of being weak and helpless. And she saw what I did to Akumei, I took away her bending for twelve hours. Little did I know the Academy instructors got it in their head to have me chi block Akumei every night until she could control her chi when she slept."

"Attempted assassinations are about the only thing I can think of why she'd hate being weak and helpless. Am I missing something?" She was really curious now and she'd wanted to try to understand her acrobat's oldest friend.

"The whole picture." This time when Ty pulled away from her, Suki let her put distance between them. But when Ty looks her in the eye, she wishes that she'd kept her close. Those gray orbs were harsh and piercing, "Zula's life was, is, nothing but an illusion. Her father made her into his weapon; a soulless extension of himself."

"Ty that doesn't justify what she's done."

"I'm not defending her!" Tears filled the suddenly conflicted gray. "I'm trying to tell you that there are reasons for the extremes she went to. I'm tired of everyone calling my best friend, former girlfriend, and the only person who saw me for myself rather than a mere copy, a fucking monster. Only one person was hurt when me, Mai, and Zula conquered Ba Sing Se; Aang survived. But Zuko killed fifteen people when he burnt Port Lou Zun, your home, to the ground trying to capture Aang. He sent Azan the 'merciless' assassin after Aang. But no one seems to remember that."

Before Suki could say anything Ty pinned her in place with the coldest glare that she'd ever seen on her acrobat, the seemingly endless stream of tears did nothing to lessen the impact. "I won't be coming home for awhile."

Suki felt like a hole opened in her chest as she watched Ty walk back into the dojo, the soft click of the door as it closed was the signal for her tears to fall. _Stupid, stupid, stupid. I'm so stupid. How could I have forgotten about that...but surely Azula's done worse things._

Long into the night the leader of Port Lou Zun's Kyoshi warriors sat behind the dojo, analyzing and thinking, really thinking, about the war and the actions of the involved parties toward the end.

* * *

**Titan's Tower, 2:26 A.M.; Infirmary/ Day 18  
**

* * *

Starfire carefully pressed a damp wash cloth over her friend's feverish forehead. After making sure that the restraints were secure and the cool compress wouldn't fall she moved to check the water level of the tank. It was fine. She released a breath and went back to her vigil over both of her new friends.

Earlier when her team had returned to the tower they'd found Zen passed out in front of a wall with an impact pattern. Zen was covered in minor burns and half the bones in her body were broken. When they'd tried to move her, Zen woke up screaming about an escaped Ozai and keeping her in a tub of water before passing out.

They'd found the aforementioned Ozai in a similar state to Zen except he was covered in glowing red demonic runes. Next to Ozai was Azula whom also supported a set of runes spanning her entire right arm. Waves of intense heat poured off of her body and she'd just begun to thrash around violently when they found her.

What made it even worse was that Ozai and Azula were laid out on opposite sides of a mirror and all three; Ozai, Azula, and the mirror were lying on the floor of Raven's room.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ****  
> _Akumei is Japanese for Notoriety.  
>  I would like to dedicate the Suki and Ty Lee section of this chapter to: seyaryminamoto, heir-to-sunspear-23, salixj, reminiscingdreamer, focusas, hammy0924, and icewhisker21 on Tumblr. Especially seyaryminamoto whose comments on a post that I made served as inspiration for Ty Lee's outburst at Suki._  
> 


	16. The Expectations Of Reality...

**Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender or Teen Titans. I own only the plots/ideas/situation that I have placed the characters in and my OCs.**  

* * *

**Jump City; The Old Library/Day 18  
**

* * *

Raven was ejected violently from the unstable portal and crashed painfully against the far wall. Her escape from Wan Shi Tong's library had been a fight every step of the way. As she went to rise from the ground she felt a searing heat on her skin. Her limbs locked up and as she slumped to the floor the last thing she saw were her birthmark's flaring brightly across her body.

* * *

**Nevermore; the armory/Day 17  
**

* * *

There was a heavy oppressive feeling in the air. She felt it the moment their mistress departed from the library. She idly caught the dagger she was tossing in the air as it fell back down while she paced aimlessly back and forth. Her mind was screaming that something was wrong. _What is it? What could it possibly..._

A loud 'make your ears bleed' siren pierced the silence. She looked around and dived through level after level until she found the right floor. 'Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. That's...'

And just as quickly as she'd done the first time Courage teleported directly to Madam Snark. 'We have intruders Snark!'

Very slowly she turned to glare at the most reckless and annoying of her cohorts. But the green emote seemed to completely ignore her.

'Summon the others.'

'I swear if this is some foolish game your playin-' She heard a sickening crack and a painful pressure blanked her body. She was suspended in the air and face to face with four green eyes.

'Summon. The. Others.' After this she was dropped unceremoniously to the ground. Shakily she got to her feet and stumbled over the words to summon the others. They had a few minutes at most before they arrived. Everything was blurry but she was leery of trying to find her glasses with Courage around.

'Here.' She jerked away from Courage's reaching hands. 'Relax I'm not going to rough you up even more.'

'I'm sorry.' She sighed. She had no idea what the hell was wrong with her lately. 'I shouldn't have lost it with you.'

Whatever Madam Snark was going to say was lost as Red loomed over them and hissed, 'This had better be good four eyes.'

'If you have a bone to pick, pick it with Courage.' Red did a double take at the amount of venom in her tone. G.I. Jane winced at the use of their mistress's name for her and then slapped Madam Snark's glasses into Red's hand.

Red didn't quite know how to handle this. On one hand Worm was a huge thorn in her side but on the other, she was afraid of G.I. Jane.

'Why am I here, Courage?' Their mistress preferred Worm's company and she wasn't about to side against Intelligence.

'Once every one is here I will tell you.' Red growled but other then that she simply passed Worm her glasses and took a seat at their meeting table. The last of them to arrive was Lazy which didn't surprise anyone. Affection, however was absent; that was a troubling thought.

'We have intruders.' There was grumbling all around and Red's four eyes narrowed to silts. But before anyone could speak. 'One of them is Slade.'

Red upended the entire table, it spun off into the distance and the far off crash of its landing was drowned out by her snarl. Red was growing larger and larger as the seconds passed.

'Red.' The near giant emote grabbed the unfortunate Courage from her seat and brought her to eye level. 'I recommend that we use the Pit.'

And like a balloon popped with a pin Red was normal sized. It took her a moment to let Courage go. 'Quite vicious of you.' Red smiled, 'I like that.' Courage shivered.

The others had fallen silent at her suggestion. The Pit was a defense mechanism; one of few that Nevermore possessed. The Pit in particular was the nastiest, most foul, and required the consent of them all. Those subjected to the Pit were trapped inside their mistress's memories and forced to relieve them. No one had ever escaped with their sanity intact.

'M-Mistress won't l-like this. B-But if she finds out that we let that bastard get away and when we could have done something about it too...' Timid's voice grew firm as she had spoke.

'Be that as it may Wilt. I second G.I. Jane's recommendation. Its high time we gave Slade his due and whoever else was fool enough to follow him inside our home.' It was something of a relief to Courage to hear Madam Snark's unspoken forgiveness and as everyone gathered to prepare the Pit, she saw Madam Snark mouth 'We'll talk later'. A slight nod was Courage's response.

* * *

**The Other End of Nevermore/Day 18  
**

* * *

Red stars dotted the ink-black sky. There was no moon or sun nor was there wind. The rocky path that she woke on was unbelievably soft. It was eerily silent. Gingerly she rolled to the side and crouched, keeping low to the ground, eyes scanning back and forth for threats. When more than five minutes passed with no other signs of life she rose to her feet. On her left was a stone archway and to her right was a winding path, with black gnarled trees breaking up the otherwise bleak landscape. _I'm not in that tower anymore. But where in Agni am I?_

'A mindscape.'

At the sound of the voice she spun and swept her leg through the air, a wall of bright red flames sprung to life. She punched more fireballs into the wall, the wall bent outward but did not break and as more fire balls rushed forward the wall stretched into a thin tunnel of flame. The tunnel began to writhe back and forth, in time with her steps. A giant bearded dragon's head rose above the rocky pathway and dove down directly on the speaker.

She collapsed to the ground and sat panting on the blackened ledge, the speaker was no where insight. 'That was pretty impressive.'

She didn't have the energy to scream or make another fire sprite. Wearily she glanced behind her left shoulder and saw the person who spoke. All she saw was a hooded figure wearing a black cloak. "R-Raven?"

'I'm afraid you're mistaken, Firecracker. I'm not Raven.' The hooded figure's voice bled amusement. She wasn't in the mood for it.

"Then who are you."

'I'm apart of Raven.' Somehow the hooded figure's words reassured her and it was starting to drive her up the wall.

"You're one of her emotions." She said, knowing that she would surprise the hooded figure with this. She still had vague recollections of fighting armored versions of herself. Almost immediately thousands of the questions that she needed answers too, sprang up and she fought to keep them in.

"Did my uncle really ask you to help me? Why are you helping me? You don't even know me." She was heedless of the affect her questions had upon the hooded figure. She had a fierce desire to understand anything about their brief encounter below Ashfall.

'He did.'

"I doubt that." Her voice was devoid of emotion. But Affection could feel them.

The hooded figure had grown still. 'Raven was shown a great kindness by your uncle and he was reminded of you throughout their interactions. This in turn caused him distress and would lead him to request her aid, to help you.'

"So your help is all because of an old man's regrets." And she'd thought it was finally over, that someone genuinely cared. "I don't need his pity or your false sympathy."

She glared at the silent hooded figure. The stillness was unnatural and it was worrying and just as she felt a shift, saw the slight openness of the hooded figure's mouth, the shadows rose up and another cloaked figure appeared. "Go help the others."

The hooded figure bowed their head and disappeared into more shadows. The newest cloaked figure released a breath and flashed her a self-deprecating smile. "This is not how I envisioned we'd meet again and so soon. Though I'm insulted that you think so little of me."

"Why wouldn't I? The only reason that you're helping me is to repay my uncle for his 'kindness'. Zuzu probably sent you to torture me further." She said fighting back the urge to claw this piece of Raven's eyes out.

"It is true that I owe your uncle. He did save me a lot of trouble when I traveled to your world, quite unexpectedly. But that is nothing compared to how much he's helped me achieve with," Shivers wracked her body as Raven laughed, it was a dark and ominous sound. "combating my inner demons. I do not sympathize with you. I understand to some degree what being used, weak, and helpless is like. To be at the mercy of a father whose power is not to be defied. To have no family, no recourse, and to have even my friends abandon me; in another life."

She does not know from where the courage came but all the same she feels the familiar, almost natural, sneer on her face. "I do not believe you."

"What Raven says is true." Before she can blink Raven is in front of her and she watches the man get flung back, skidding across the ground.

His prone body is still for a moment and then he rises to his feet, a chuckle escapes him. "Is that anyway to treat your guests?"

"You won't leave here alive."

"Is that so?"

Giant shadowy talons burst from the ground all around him but he seemed completely unconcerned as he nimbly dodged them. Just as he'd closed the distance between them, a red cloaked figure tackled him to the ground. ' _ **Azarath Metrion Zinthos. You picked the wrong mind tod-**_ '

A foot connected with her chin, cutting her off, and sending her flying through the air. Before he could press his attack, he was forced back by blades of shadow as they almost sliced him in half. "Not bad but have you ever stopped to wonder that maybe its not just me and that one's father roaming around in here."

There was a rumble and several dozen cracks spreading along the nearest archway proceeded his statement. Eyes wide Raven felt the disturbances all across Nevermore. With each successive collapse of the archways it felt like someone had switched her blood for acid. Through the intensifying agony she registered a spike of panic from Azula, it gave her a point of focus.

" _ **Azarath Metrion Zinthos.**_ "

One by one the red stars above them winked out of existence and everything was smothered in darkness. An eternity passed before a faint red glow cast light upon them as Raven's birthmarks appeared all around them. Slade-bots were drifting weightless in the air, the rocks from the archways they collapsed were drawn to them like magnets. The scrunch and scrapping of crushed metal was drowned out as the cry of a thousand ravens echoed.

"Game over birthday girl, Psimon sends his regar-"

A flash of white light and a boom of thunder forced him to dive aside. Then he rolled to avoid a flame covered fist. More flames followed him making it difficult to regain his feet but he did. "Ah princess so good of you to join us. Although I was told you possessed a modicum of intelligence, chasing after us on this venture was foolish; nor does it lend credence to your father's claims."

And like a striking snake he scored a devastating blow to her abdomen, completely ignoring the fire surrounding him. As she doubled over, he pulled a small detonator from his pocket and pressed down on the only button. The detonator flashed purple before the entire pathway beneath them spider-webbed with cracks and shattered. Raven watched as Azula fell into the darkness below and rushed after her.

" _Psimon sends his regards._ " The runes on her skin and in the sky turned a sickly shade of purple. The agony from before broke free and swept through her like a tidal wave. She ignored it and willed herself to go faster. She had to reach Azula before the shadows swallowed her. Her fingertips graze Azula's right arm just as the firebender made contact with the shadows. Darkness and a sea of pain overwhelm her as voices and images light up the Pit.

* * *

_**The Gem was born of Evil's Fire** _

_**The Gem shall be His Portal** _

_**He comes to Claim** _

_**He comes to Sire** _

_**The End of all things Mortal  
** _

* * *

_"Her mindscape is unlike anything that I've ever encountered before." There was a pause as if to decide whether or not to continue. "Her emotions...they're almost like whole other people. She is fully self-aware."_

_"Have you identified the inner-medium?"_

_There was a nod. "Her Rage, the red one, he uses it to influence her and he's able to enter her mind at will. I fear that she will succumb within a year, but only if you do not immediately oversee her instruction, Azar. I strongly advise her ties to Arella be cut off when she turns two. Lastly not a word of the prophecy should ever be breathed of, to her."_

_With the last of his report given, esteemed Grandmaster Sazz takes his leave of the scared council chamber. It was no longer in his hands what befell the spawn of Trigon. The fate of the very universe rested with Azar and Arella._

_The ethereal Grandpristess Azar slumped in her chair, wishing that her grandmother was still within the physical plane. Her kindly eyes turned to Arella. The other woman met her gaze without flinching and without emotion._

_"It pains me so very much. But I agree with Sazz. Have you any objections?"_

_It breaks everything in her to see the woman shake her head. "I have none as my feelings are irrelevant. I love her dearly but Sazz is correct. She must never grow attached, she must be trained as quickly as possible to never give into the slightest emotion. There is however something of Sazz's report that I disagree with. With holding the prophecy from Raven will be disastrous."_

_"So you've finally decided on a name then." Her voice has a touch of exasperation to it, it had already been eleven months since the child's birth._

_"If I left it to the likes of Sazz...it would be a far crueler name then she deserves." Azar does nothing to reprimand Arella at the implications in her tone. It would surprise many of the council to see her cowed and meek in front of a mere mortal but all of this woman's woes and her child's future actions can be lain at the feet of any Azarathian. For Arella and Raven, she will let any transgression against her person pass as neither of their lives will be easy._

_"Raven will be placed in my care a year from now. You will have no further contact outside of any educational purpose or interaction in the city from day to day. Only in the most dire of circumstances will you be allowed to see her in the capacity of her mother. However once I deem her ready, she'll once more be in your care. I will retrieve her the eve of her second birthday. For now I present you with this," She held a gold ring inscribed with intricate rune work out to Arella. After Arella had taken the ring and deposited it somewhere on her person, "that will protect Raven's mind for the coming year. As for the prophecy I will give Raven a yearly assessment and should she ever pass, I will reveal its contents."_

_"I understand."_

* * *

_**The Gem was born of Evil's Fire** _

_**The Gem shall be His Portal** _

_**He comes to Claim** _

_**He comes to Sire** _

_**The End of all things Mortal  
** _

* * *

_She can hear the whispers as they approach the the classroom._

_"I heard that she's receiving one on one tutelage from Azar."_

_"My father said she has three chakra gems already. But something's corrupted them and they've all turned dark."_

_"Oh yeah I've seen her. She is so weird and she's like a void, none of my classmates from Empathy 101 can detect any of her emotions."_

_"Grandmaster Sazz says that her mother practically shoved her into order custody and has refused to have anything to do with her since. He also said that her name wasn't even given more than a moment's thought."_

_"Isn't she like four, what's the order even doing assigning her to advanced Mysticology and why does it have to be our class."_

_"Can she even speak Latin fluently yet?"_

_Aretu motions for her to stop as they reach the doorway. "Wait here until I call for you."_

_She nods and nearly jumps out of her skin when she feels the tell tale coolness settled the hood of her cloak over her head. She quickly tamps down on the well of emotion that caused her powers to lash out._

_"Intrate et sedebit_ _."_

_She hesitates for only a moment before entering. The class is small with just ten other students. To her dismay, Aretu waves her to a seat at the other end of the long table that her newest classmates are sitting along. She fights back the urge to teleport to the chair, Azar won't let her do that without supervision yet. But she doesn't want to walk in front of them. Beneath her a pool of shadow forms and all she knows next is the cold. In the blink of an eye she was standing next to the chair with everyone's eyes on her._

_Aretu clicks his tongue in disapproval but says nothing as he turns to the board and begins to draw a diagram on it. "Hodie puteus incipere..."_

_As the lecture begins in earnest she slides from her chair and settles on the floor with her parchment and quills, scribbling furiously. She left a projection of herself behind in the chair and tries to ignore the simmering rage itching across her skin. After a while Aretu becomes absorbed in his lecture and that is when they start whispering again, "Revered Goddess, Mazra, you're right she's a dead zone. And those blank lifeless eyes are creepy."_

_"Did she teleport to her chair?"_

_"No. She's capable of going intangible for short periods of time. She was also placed in my intermediate Levitation class."_

_"She can levitate?"_

_"Yep and the other day I saw her enter the Arch."_

_"What?! No way is she that advanced in the practical application of magic."_

_"Runes too."_

_"So not only is she some freak with a skin disorder but she's also more advanced in her studies at the age of four than all of us and the younger half of the order combined."_

_"Azarath Metrion Zinthos, Azarath Metrion Zinthos, Azarath Metrion Zinthos." She tries chanting her words under her breath in an attempt to drown them out and focus on Aretu's deep rhythmic tone explaining about the history of Egyptian artifacts being excellent anchors for curses. But she's just barely discovered her words and they haven't had much impact with her mediation so far._

_"I overheard Grandmaster Sazz discussing 'demon spawn' with Aretu last month, you guys don't think they were talking about her, do you?"_

_Her chanting tampered off and for the first time, she welcomed the cold that pervaded the area around her. White hot rage was pressing against the fragile barriers in her mind, it was starting to hurt. But she held it back._

_"They must have been. Because I remember my mother saying something about a demon raping a woman that Azar brought here. Then the freak is left with the order, the timing of that is no coincidence. No wonder her mother pawned her off at the first opportunity. I'd bet anything that that is also why the freak's mother wants nothing to do with her."_

_Her resolve crumbled. The world exploded, the cold spreading its reach beyond her, devouring and hurting all that it touched. " **I'll show you a demon's spawn, all six years of it!** "_

_All that she was, was screaming and the smell of blood, that is until she heard, "Summon Azar and Arella."_

_Everything is washed away as her vision blurs.  
_

* * *

_She wakes with a jerk but a soothing calmness grounds her. Her breath is uneven, sweat slides down her face, and her mouth is dry. She recognizes her room and Azar, but the other woman's familiarity eludes her. She doesn't wait for either to speak. "Is it true? Am I a demon?"_

_Neither of them speak. Their silence is too much for her._

_"Tell me." She is so lost. She's having trouble remembering what happened during class that morning, her memories are scrambled up. She doesn't stop her tears and they burn uncomfortably hot as they roll down her face. "I can't remember what happened today. It was just a haze of red, it was like there was a steady thrum at the back of my m-mind. T-Telling me to hurt and destroy."_

_Her tears come faster, she scrubs them away but they won't stop. She can't make them stop. She felt the stirring of that terrible rage in her head then as quickly as it was there it was gone. She went rigid as the other woman pulled her into an embrace, it was the first time anyone had ever hugged her._

_"No. You are not a demon." Her muscles relax against her will into the woman's arms, head tucked beneath an angular chin, eyes closed against the tide of her tears, and a grip of death on the woman. "You're my daughter and I love you."_

_In the back of her mind she knew this. "They said you just gave me up."_

_"You needed training, training that I could not provide for you." She can sense how much pain this has caused her mother. It does nothing to dull the aching emptiness nor the sting of rejection. Abandonment is still abandonment._

_"Please don't leave."_

_"I must and know that I do this for you." Raven refuses to let go. "When Azar says you're ready, we can spent as much time together as you want."_

_"You promise?" Bright violet orbs gaze imploringly into darker ones. She can see the sincerity, that she can also feel, in them._

_"I promise."_

_"Raven," She swivels her head to Azar. "did you practice your words this morning?"_

_"No." She is struck with a bottomless pit of agony from her mother, she doesn't quite understand the cause of it._

_"Meditate. Arella and I have some delicate matters to address." As the two reach the doorway of her room Azar turned and pinned her in place with a knowing stare. "Aretu told me how you reached your chair in his class this morning, we will be discussing that incident later."  
_

* * *

_**The Gem was born of Evil's Fire**_

_**The Gem shall be His Portal** _

_**He comes to Claim** _

_**He comes to Sire** _

_**The End of all things Mortal  
** _

* * *

_Azar's spiritual ascension was a difficult time for everyone but for her it was torture. The order sends her to live with her mother the day before. And when the sun rises she knows that she can't attend the thirteen day ritual to honor the dead. Because the rage is especially strong. The desire to burn everything physically pains her. She will spend the next thirteen days in a meditation trance, it is the only way._

_"Raven," She has to fight to remain still as her mother calls her. Her breathing is strained as her mother enters the room. "Are you ready?"_

_"I'm not going. I have to mediate." Mercifully her mother's presence is gone moments later and she begins to chant, "Azarath Metrion Zinthos."_

_She is still chanting thirteen days later when the rage overcomes her. All that she is, is shadows, cold, and destruction. It is the first time that she enters her mindscape without the mirror and it is also the first time that she meets Rage._

_Red is the first thing that she sees; a red cloak. The figure wearing it towers above her with four blood red eyes focused on her._

_Try as she might she can't keep the fear out of her voice,_ _"W-what are you?"_

 _The entity cloaked in red lets out a soft growl. She's too terrified to jump at the sound. A flash of white blinds her, the entity's smile is wide,_ _'_ _**A demon but so are you.** _ _'_

_"No I'm not!" She growls back. The entity's amusement wraps around her like a snake._

_'_ _**Oh? Then why'd you growl back?** _ _'_

_She can't find a reason. This doesn't seem to matter as the entity asked another question._

_'_ _**Why do you lose control when you're angry?** _ _'_

_She shakes her head. The entity laughs._

_'_ _**Why do your thoughts so easily turn to destruction?** _ _'_

_She takes several steps back. The entity matches her step for step._

_'_ _**Why does the rage sing through your blood?** _ _'_

_The entity grows to a monstrous size in the blink of an eye; red skin, antler like horns, and bone white hair. The entity plucks her from the ground and she's trapped in its fist. Air rushes past as it brings her level with its gleaming fangs. Those four red eyes hold her transfixed as vortex of preternatural enlightenment quells her struggles. She knows it is **Trigon that speaks**._

_'_ _**The Gem was born of Evil's Fire, the Gem shall be His Portal, He comes to Claim, He comes to Sire, the End of all things Mortal.** _ _'_

_The entity releases her and she drops like a stone._

_When she wakes, she is in her mother's arms. Half of Azarath was destroyed when he took control. "You lied to me. I am a demon and I'm going to destroy everything."_

_"You're half-demon. He told you, didn't he?"_

_"I'm going to earth and I will stop him even if it kills me." She is gone in an instant. It takes little time for her to prepare the ritual. Her presence can no longer be felt in Azarath as the last of Arella's tears run dry._

* * *

_**The Gem was born of Evil's Fire** _

_**The Gem shall be His Portal** _

_**He comes to Claim** _

_**He comes to Sire** _

_**The End of all things Mortal  
** _

* * *

_**When she crossed the threshold into the ancient chamber, the keepers came to life reciting the prophecy that plagued her every waking thought. As she descended further down the stair blood red runes were written across her skin, glowing bright.** _

_**She quietly drew her cloak around her, hoping none of the others would noticed her apprehension.** _

_**He noticed, of course he did. But even as he turned with a question on his tongue, she couldn't take another step. She couldn't face this. "I can't go in there."** _

_**"Raven wait."** _

_**She phased through the ceiling and vanished.  
** _

* * *

_**The Gem was born of Evil's Fire** _

_**The Gem shall be His Portal** _

_**He comes to Claim** _

_**He comes to Sire** _

_**The End of all things Mortal  
** _

* * *

" _ **You may have created me but you were never my father." To drive her point home she hit him with a blast of white energy, it drove him back.**_

" _ **Wretched insignificant—" Another blast of white energy hit him squarely in the chest.**_

_**"Fathers are kind."** _

_**"Fathers protect you."** _

_**"Fathers raise you."** _

_**Each statement was accompanied by a blast of that white energy. The last one forcing him to kneel before her as she rose up, boosted by the white energy. "I was protected by the monks of Azarath, I was raised by my friends; they are my family, this is my home, and you are not welcome here!"** _

" _ **Azarath Metrion Zinthos!"**_

_**A few seconds later and everything was engulfed in white.** _

* * *

_**The Gem was born of Evil's Fire** _

_**The Gem shall be His Portal** _

_**He comes to Claim** _

_**He comes to Sire** _

_**The End of all things Mortal  
** _

* * *

**_"Can't this thing go any faster? Urgh! I just want this day to be over." She was growling and very annoyed at the slow, patronizing tick, of her clock._ **

_**She sighed, "Relax only a few hours to go. It might not even happen, focus, meditate... it will be midnight before you know it…Azarath Metrion Zinthos…Azarath Metrion Zinthos…Azar…" Half way through the first word of her mantra a hacking cough prevented her from speaking. As she grabbed her throat flames erupted around her forcing her eyes open. When she opened them the flames were all over her room.** _

_**"What you have concealed you shall become. You have no other choice. Your destiny shall be fulfilled." While the voice spoke she watched as the flames drew a familiar symbol upon the wall. "The portal must be opened!"  
** _

* * *

_**The Gem was born of Evil's Fire** _

_**The Gem shall be His Portal** _

_**He comes to Claim** _

_**He comes to Sire** _

_**The End of all things Mortal  
** _

* * *

**_As he caught a hold of her cloak and proceeded to tear it off of her back he said, "What you have concealed you shall become. You have no other choice."_ **

_**His words only served to anger her as she rose from the ground, her soul-self forming around both arms, saying, "No."** _

_**He grasped both of her arms easily, her soul-self dissipating, "The message will be delivered. Your destiny shall be fulfilled."** _

_**The night sky was slowly replaced with a blood red one and all that remained of the city were ruins. With only the croaking four eyed birds and stone statues in sight. An ominous shadowy figure howled into the blood red sky. "No"** _

_**"Yes…look at it, drink it in. Behold the world you are destined to create." His voice came out in a hiss with a hint of maliciousness in it as if the horrid ruins filled with death and decay brought him an endless amount of satisfaction.** _

_**She shook her head and wrenched away from him, stumbling forward she said, "No I won't do it, this is just a vision, this can't be real."** _

_**She tensed as he grabbed her from behind, holding each arm firmly, "This is the future; your future. It began the day you were born and nothing can stop it. This will come to pass, I will make sure of it. You're going to destroy the world, Raven. It's written all over your face."** _

_**Her eyes lit up and she screamed, "NO!"  
** _

* * *

_**The Gem was born of Evil's Fire** _

_**The Gem shall be His Portal** _

_**He comes to claim** _

_**He comes to Sire** _

_**The End of All things Mortal  
** _

* * *

_How could anyone survive all that?_ These are the first of her thoughts as she comes to. The sight of red stars peaking through the gnarly branches of a giant tree is disconcerting as is the figure perched above her, cast in shadow. She is so tired but the panic rises, it could be her father in that tree. There is slight movement, she catches a glimpse of blue fabric and it makes her feel safe. _Its a blue cloak._

She swallows thickly. She hates how trusting she is of this Raven woman and loathe as she is to do it, she lashes out. "Am I supposed to be impressed?"

"You weren't supposed to see any of that."

That wasn't the response that she was expecting from the woman. "Then what was the point?"

"To destroy the minds of Slade and your father." The words came out in a hiss and she is wary as the woman vanishes from her perch. Only to appear on her left, Raven's back is leaning against the tree. " _ **Slade's a slippery bastard though.**_ "

She rolls to the side putting more space between them but surprisingly has no desire to go very far. She also elects to recline against the tree but she keeps her eyes glued to Raven, one can never be to careful. "I could've done without the mocking commentary and the jabs at my level of intelligence."

She sees Raven's mouth twitch and then Raven chuckles, oddly its very warm and soothing. 'Safe' is the word that her mind supplies. Despite everything she witnessed of Raven's life, she still feels safe and cared for. She refuses to trust this feeling, her luck hasn't been that great ever since Sozin's comet.

"I still don't trust that any of this is real Raven." She said. The reluctance positively drips from her tone.

"I'd be surprised if you did." She blinks at this. This conversation wasn't at all what she was expecting. _It sounds as if she knows something about the dragons. And why isn't she demanding that I change or show remorse. Surely because uncle fuddy duddy sent her..._

"Because you had no other choice or at least not an easy one. You were a general, a warrior, a firebender, a prodigy, and a princess in that order. You were taught that the Fire Nation had the right to conquer the world. Your father...the less said about him, the better. Your uncle asked me to help you in anyway that I could. I didn't sense any ulterior motives from him when he made the request."

" _Is she reading my mind?_ "

"No. I'm reading your emotions." Raven's answer to her unspoken question is jarring to hear. She huffs in annoyance as she realizes that she said that out loud.

"Why...why are you encouraging my mistrust of all of this?" She says gesturing to the barren rocky platform that doesn't extend more than ten feet in any direction.

"Slade has successfully disrupted my," Raven frowns and seems to have lost the ability to articulate her thoughts. "my mind. For lack of a better way to explain it to you without confusing you horribly. Therefore I can't physically take you to one of the places from my memories; proving that all of this is real."

"Basically you're saying that we're trapped inside your mind." She folds her arms and shrugs then settles even more against the tree, head tilted back, eyes closed. "No dragons."

"Its temporary." Raven regrets bursting her bubble as the sheer maelstrom of her emotions return stronger than ever.

"I know what the dragons represent. I know what they want from you." Raven isn't prepared for the intimate proximity. Up close those gold eyes are so very intense and there is still the taint of insanity in them. Azula's breath is unnaturally warm as it washes over her face. "Don't leave me in suspense."

Raven is taken aback at how vulnerable she sounds, how much the dragons have troubled her.

"You're descended from Avatar Roku and from Fire Lord Sozin. They want you to choose."

She reels back as if stuck and stumbles away from the tree, away from the feeling of safety that Raven exudes.

 _She's lying. But what does she get out of lying and if she isn't? How do I choose? What if I don't want to. I never asked for any of this._ Her thoughts continue spiraling out of control. She feels too hot again. She falls easily into a stance but the flames do not come and the heat lulls her further and further into sleep. The last thing she hears as she finally gives in, "We'll speak again soon, Azula."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ****  
> _I'm using google translate so I apologize for any mistakes._  
>  Latin translations:  
> Intrate et sedebit: Enter and be seated  
> Hodie puteus incipere: Today we'll begin with


	17. Are The Lie Of Illusions

**Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender or Teen Titans. I own only the plots/ideas/situations that I have placed the characters in and my OCs.**

* * *

" _So much wasted potential" The white dragon's putrid breath swirled around her as it spoke. "My, how the mighty have fallen. You trust them so easily, it makes me sick."_

_Liquid splatters onto the ground all around her as the dragon circles. The illumination that glints off its scales is fleeting and the darkness in its wake slithers to and fro. In one flash she sees two gouges running the length of its belly, the next flash shows her the blood flowing freely between the grayed edges of its white scales; tiny black and blue arcs dance across the dragon's entire lower body._

_"Why do you hesitate? Is it the soft spoken Starfire? That overconfident waterbending half-breed? Or maybe its the Shadow Walker?"_

_She can hear the power, strength, manipulation, fear, pain, and suffering in its voice. It is her father's voice. And at one time, it was the same for hers._

_"Oh yes. It is the Shadow Walker. She's the one that makes you so easily like your worthless...mother. How can you trust it? Remember trust is for fools." The heat was stifling and each breath tasted like smoke, black, thick, and destructive. She can't help but to breath it in._

_In the distance, the ground quakes, and a harsh howling wind sweeps the smoke away. The black dragon laboriously claws its way out of the crater that it made. Its right wing dragging along behind it and a gaping hole where its left had been; fragments of bone jut from it. As the black dragon draws near, bringing its unassuming calm, she has the urge to meet it half way._

_She is content to watch it struggle. Each spasm of tortured muscles, the trail of blood, and pained whimpers is heartening to see. She wants them, both dragons, to suffer. To experience her state of being for once._

_"I do not seek to change or control you." Her voice is kind once more. But it doesn't sound like her mother. She is thankful and at the same time wants kill the dragon for this, she's only seen the apparition of her mother once and it too has rejected her. This hurt is familiar though it is a pain she's accepted as a part of her life, its never hurt more than in this moment._

_"And for that I thank you." The dragon's huff of breath comes across as fond to her. She is reminded of Sokon the stuffed dragon that her mother made for her. Rage, hot and searing, bursts in her chest. It takes more effort then she has to hold it back._

_"Don't hold onto it. Release it."_

_The rage spills fourth in the form of Dragon's breath. Azure fire spirits dance all around them but as more fire joins them, the dance is turned into a frenzy. One by one the spirits kill each other off. Like fire, rage is a flash flare and is easily overcome by stronger, more damaging emotions._

_"I-I just wanted her to love me, isn't that how its supposed to be? Instead it was Zuko. He got everything! Her coddling! Her bedtime stories! Her love! All I got was her contempt!" And like everything else in her life, her tears do not stop as she wishes they do, instead they come faster. Her rage is rekindled as she's wasted enough tears on her mother._

_"You know what mother? You can have your precious Zuzu and your love because I. Don't. Want. It."_

_"Yes! That's what I want to hear."_

_Her muscles are taut and her movements are slow as her eyes narrow to slits, they shine like molten gold as they fall upon the white dragon. "I chose the soft spoken Starfire," The white dragon hisses menacingly, "I chose the overconfident waterbending half-breed." Now the white dragon is keening as the gouges along its belly weep blood anew, "I chose the Shadow Walker."_

_The black dragon pounces upon the white as it surges towards her. The white dragon's teeth snap closed on thin air an inch before her face. With an agonizing grunt the black dragon heaves the white one up and tosses it into the ether. The black dragon gazes at her in question._

_"I don't recall choosing you."_

_"You've chosen balance. We shall trouble you no more. But this was just the beginning." The black dragon's muscles tense in preparation to follow after and thrash the white one, it gives her one last glance. "Farewell Azula."  
_

* * *

**Titans Tower, 10:00 A.M.; Infirmary/ Day 20  
**

* * *

Unlike the many violent and abrupt awakenings she's had before, this one was gradual and pleasant. And for the first time she felt at ease and had no desire to escape. It was a novel experience to say the least. Although the straps keeping her firmly in place on the bed were irritating as the thin gown she was wearing offered little protection from the restrains.

"I hope we don't make a habit of meeting like this often, princess Azula." She recognized the waterbender's confident drawl. As she glanced about yet another room that she didn't remember entering, she spotted the waterbender approaching her bed. The waterbender's clothing was irregular, form fitted pants and a bizarre tunic with an even stranger series of symbols repeated across the entire front of it.

"If there is one thing that I know my dear brother wouldn't hesitate to do, and I'd like to think I know him well, he has already stripped me of my titles. So there is no need to patronize me." She says, watching the waterbender closely as she reaches her bedside.

"I wasn't." She doesn't like the calculating look that spreads across the waterbender's face. "I was sent to kill you during the war. But the night I planned for, someone else had beaten me to it. There you were, defenseless and wounded, but I turned to leave. Then I heard the crying, turned back and saw the extend of the injuries. I found high concentrations of a _Seishin-tekina doku_ in your blood when I healed you."

"Why are you telling me this?" She tries to move away from the waterbender's hands but the straps seem to constrict as if they had a mind of their own.

"I'm not going to finish the job." To reinforce her point, the waterbender swiftly releases the restraints and then steps back. "I'm telling you this because of the reason why I accepted the assignment; to stall for time. If I was on the job, no one else would be sent."

Azula shakes her head and tries to sit up but a wave of dizziness forces her to stop. "Why?"

"Because you're the reason I received any training for the waterbending arts at all. Your father had me trained in secret with the captured waterbenders from the Southern Water Tribe to one day give you first hand experience in fighting a waterbender. Though during a training session there was a monsoon and the subsequent flash flood killed a lot of people, I was counted among the dead. In a round about way you're the reason I wasn't disgraced, exiled, and or killed when my waterbending was first discovered." She had no idea how to feel about this. Even more so when the waterbender added, "And even if you insist on looking down at me for my breeding and the waterbending, you aren't the first firebender I've had to deal with who thought that; you certainly won't be the last either.

So princess, may I check you over for any additional injuries?"

She nodded but she felt detached from the action. And then, "What happened after the monsoon?"

"Well," The waterbender swirled a steady stream of water through the air above her and slowly lowered it, the glowing water was warm. "I washed up on Krazai with no memory of who I was and sword master Paindao took me in. I worked in his forge for a couple years.

Then one night there was a fire, it spread quickly and I was helping the evacuations for the people trapped in the sector where the fire started. There was an inexperienced firebender trying to keep it contained, he wasn't powerful enough. I was caught in the resulting blast and thrown clear to the beach. Thankfully it was high tide and I landed in the water. And then this surge of power hit me and my memories came rushing back.

Of course, despite being instrumental in putting the fire out, the townsfolk wanted me out. I wasn't about to stay when I wasn't wanted. Paindao though, he didn't care and arranged for me to travel to the Northern Water Tribe. He said I should find out if I can heal or not."

The waterbender fell silent as she moved the water from Azula's chest to her right arm. Azula saw the waterbender frown and mumble something under her breath. "What is it?"

"The extensive scarring on your arm has been replaced with another set of scars but they're the strange symbols that appeared on you and your father. But the weirdest thing is they have active amounts of Raven's chi running through them."

The waterbender saw the alarm on Azula's face and rushed to reassure her, "It's benign as far as I can tell and not nearly as dangerous as the high fever you've had for the past three days. And the thrashing was pretty bad from what Starfire told me; that's way you were strapped down."

"Starfire told you?"

"Ha," The water was pulled away and sent to a tub on the far side of the room. "You have a hell of a kick, it broke two ribs and the explosion that happened later; broke even more bones. Thankfully the moon hadn't waned too much and I could still subconsciously heal my wounds. I just barely got out of that tank," Azula followed the waterbender's pointing finger to the aforementioned tank. "late last night. Yeah I was told. I'm Zen by the way."

Azula gave her a quizzical look, complete with a raised brow. "In all the excitement I don't believe we've been properly introduced. But then again you don't need an introduction, princess."

"Just call me Azula." She said calmly. But the words that left her mouth next were painful to say, saying it out loud made it permanent. "I'm not a princess anymore."

"I have some news that might cheer you up, Azula. You have been invited to join everyone for breakfast, if you feel up to it." Zen's easy going attitude was infectious and she found herself agreeing to breakfast with the others. "Very well."

A winning smile was Zen's response and then she was being presented with a bag that contained her own set of unusual clothing. She was too preoccupied with investigating her attire to see Zen's smile transform into a wicked grin, eyes alight with mirth.

"What is this?" She asked voice full of bemusement.

"I can help you with that if you want?" Zen had to fight back her giggles as Azula handed the article of clothing over.

"What is it?"

"Its like a breast band only a thousand times better." Zen's amusement died a swift death as she noticed Azula had gone tense. Zen gestured for her to hand the bag back over and after Zen had it, she shifted the clothes around.

A moment later she pulled out another piece of clothing. "You put your head through here and your arms through both of these loops here and pull it down over your breasts, no assistance required. I'll wait outside."

"One last thing. Just press your hand to this plate," Azula glanced toward the doorway and saw the slight discoloration on the wall to the right of the door. "when you're finished."

As the door closed behind Zen, the tension in Azula's body drained away. In her mind she knew that Zen had most likely already seen the extent of her scars but it was a relief that the waterbender had picked up on her distress. She released a breath and dressed as quickly as the strange clothing allowed.

After wrestling with the 'breast band' she paused before pulling on the black long-sleeved tunic with a roughly rendered creature on its front, and studied the new scarring on her right arm. The symbols that Zen mentioned started on the back of her hand and ran the length of her arm, stopping where arm became shoulder. The symbols reminded her of her calligraphy lessons; intertwined elegant spiraling loops, smooth continuation from one set of lines to the next, and broad strokes for the singularities.

On a whim she flexed the muscles in her arm and a surprised gasp escaped her as she'd felt nothing, no pain of any kind. Instead a wave of lethargy settled in her bones then it was gone. _That was better than the aches and tautness from before. I suppose that's one more thing I'll have to thank Raven for._

Upon exiting the Infirmary she saw that Zen had been joined by Starfire. And she was once more reminded of Ty Lee as she was engulfed in a bone crushing hug. "Friend Azula I'm glad that you are well."

"Me too." She said when Starfire had released her and stepped back.

"Will you be joining the Breaking of the fast?"

At her nod she watched a wide smile spread across Star's face. "Glorious."

With that she was practically dragged by Starfire into an elevator. The ones on the airships shook horribly and she often preferred taking the stairs. This ride, however wasn't unpleasant and was mercifully short.

As the doors slid open she resigned herself to more dragging from Starfire but a loud siren rang throughout the tower. Flashes of red lights heralded the arrival of Cyborg and Robin; she was strongly reminded of her brother when she had first met him.

"Star its the H.I.V.E Five rejects." It was Robin who spoke as he passed them. She saw Star nod in his direction and then take off after the two of them. The siren was still blaring as the three of them reached the end of the hallway.

"What's the siren for?" She asked Zen, who held up a finger signaling for her to wait. The siren and the flashing red lights stopped a moment later.

"It will be easier to show you, come on," Zen waved for her to follow, "There's probably news coverage already."

She was confused but followed Zen to the opposite end of the hall and into a very large room. With even larger floor to ceiling windows that looked out on the ocean and the city beyond it. Her attention was immediately captured by the appearance of moving pictures that obscured the view of one of the windows.

"Zen try channel 6 their news crews are the most reckless ones. They get the best vantage points too." The sound of Raven's voice had her eyes scanning the room, trying to locate the speaker. Raven was to her left and was currently making breakfast.

"I'm not worried about him." Zen scoffed in Raven's direction. She saw Raven's brow raise. "Azula wanted to know what the siren was for."

Violet eyes locked with hers, she was shocked to see that Raven had forgone wearing the hood of her cloak. She saw a smirk on Raven that sent a chill down her spine as those violet orbs were once more focused on Zen. "Whatever helps you sleep at night."

"Have I mentioned how much I hate that." Zen said and lobbed a cushion at Raven. The cushion was halted mid-flight by the shadows and then it was flung at high speed toward the waterbender. A muffled smack proceeded an indigent squawk from Zen.

"Once or twice. There's a club you can join, see Star about membership, but any and all complaints are completely disregarded and ignored."

"Anyways," Zen viciously jabbed at the remote and suddenly the moving picture was alive with screaming people. "This is what the siren is for."

She'd unconsciously walked toward the u-shaped couch during their conversation to get closer to the moving picture. "This is Gus Acker bringing you another live session of clash of the Titans."

Right as the reporter finished Cyborg flew past him. It looked like Cyborg was being skipped across the surface of a lake rather than concrete. Cyborg finally came to a stop on top of some poor sucker's convertible.

"Ooh," Acker winced at the sight, "I hope they opted for the 'Cyborg landed on my car during a scuffle with the H.I.V.E.' policy. 'Cause normal insurance isn't going to un-crush that metal pancake for less than 80 grand."

"Alright E.T. your ass is mine." The lights on his entire body flash red and his left arm reconfigured into a large canon, larger than his normal fare. He leveled it at the giant blue-green alien rushing forward. " _Target locked; hit percentage 100, firing now._ "

His grin was terrifyingly wide as a net shot from the canon. The giant alien swatted the net aside and kept rushing toward Cyborg or would have if the net hadn't latched onto his skin. A strange hum filled the air as the giant alien crashed face first to the ground mouth open in a silent scream, muscles spasming.

"Remember this the next time you losers want to rob a bank this early, I don't play nice on an empty stomach."

"Chalk up another win for the Titans and just in time for a heart healthy breakfast too." The reporter turned back to the camera with a wide grin on his face. "Join us later for a recap of this morning's excitement and a statement from the JL involving the tragedy that befell the city of-"

And as suddenly as the pictures were there, they were gone. She felt a immense haze of loathing, exactly like the lethargy from earlier, wash over her. And like before it was gone just as quickly. It was jarring and did nothing to help her confusion.

"We don't have benders here. But some of us are unlucky enough to be born or exposed to situations that leave us with unusual abilities." Raven's voice drew her attention from the windows, a voice tinged with faint aggravation. So much so that the wall behind Raven had a crack running from the ceiling to the floor. "My friends and I, use our abilities to help and protect people. We protect them from those who've chosen to use their abilities for other less benign purposes."

"You're the good guys then?" She didn't noticed the way Raven carefully placed several steaming pastries on a platter nor how stiff Raven's every motion was, for at that moment she heard an echoing shout of, "Alright waffle time!"

"Yes we're the good guys."

"What are waffles?" Her question was directed to Raven, it was not Raven whom she found a inch from her face. She had to fight down her instinctive reaction of setting him on fire for his proximity.

"How," She saw his blue eye narrow. "can you not know what waffles are?!" He wasn't shouting, but it was like she'd offended him egregiously over some kind of food.

"Ah," She tilted her head to the side, "most be some kind of peasant food. Its sounds positively dreadful."

"You're joking right?"

"Seriously what are waffles?" She was unprepared for him to collapse into a pile of dramatic tears and start wailing 'WAFFLES' at the top of his lungs.

"Friend Azula ignore him. He is afflicted terribly by the loving of food." Another wail of 'WAFFLES' rose from the pitiful mess that was Cyborg.

"Quit yer belly aching and sit down." Zen said from her seat at the bar, already devouring what Azula assumed were waffles. Almost instantly the waterbender was joined by Cyborg whom was stacking pastries on his own plate.

"Come Friend Azula before he eats them all."

Moments later found them all seated along the bar and somehow she wound up sitting in between Cyborg and Zen. She was then served by Cyborg who stacked four waffles onto her plate.

"The only way to truly enjoy waffles is to drown them in syrup." He didn't phrase it as a question as he held up a container that was filled with a molasses like liquid. She nodded and watched as the syrup was poured over the waffles. Then he turned to his own and drowned his.

"Give me that or I won't let you win our Super Starship Racers 2 rematch."

"Ooo 'et e 'in?" His words were too undecipherable for her to understand them, Zen however, had no trouble, "Not if you don't give me the syrup."

"Ere." He passed Zen the syrup then continued shoveling the waffles on his plate into his mouth with gusto.

She turned back to her own plate mildly disgusted at his lack of manners. She was still not sure about 'waffles' but they did look awfully good that, and her stomach was growling. Her first bite was divine as the sweetness of the syrup combined with the buttery taste of the waffle. After that first taste she dug into her waffles with a relish. As she ate the last bite and contemplated licking her plate clean, to her utter mortification, she happened to notice movement at the edge of her vision. When she looked up she saw Raven slowly pouring herself a cup of tea. "Pretty good aren't they?"

"They weren't horrible." She saw the corner of Raven's lip twitch.

"Did something I say amuse you or was it something I felt?" Her smile was wide as she saw the brief flash of surprise steal across Raven's face.

"I used to have the same sentiment about waffles." Before she could say anything more Raven vanished into thin air.

"Is she avoiding me?"

"Nah." She leveled a glare in the half-metal man's direction. His smile was unrepentant. "She likes to meditate on the roof in the morning."

She frowned at this but otherwise remained silent as she wondered what was planned for her. It was odd that she wasn't being herded off to the nearest holding cell or that containment room.

"Oh yeah. Raven told us that you won't have any trouble controlling your bending anymore and said to tell you that you have free reign of the Tower. Except for the restricted areas."

"She could have told me herself." She mumbled quietly under her breath but was surprised when he started chuckling, "Don't take it personally. She asked me to explain what happened inside her head to you."

"Raven said there was underlying issues and that _Slade_ really did a number on her." His voice was harsh as he practically spit out Slade's name like a bullet shot from a gun.

"Let's move this conversation to the couch. It'll be more comfy."

* * *

"Raven's powers are tied directly into her emotions. The more she feels the more power that's unleashed. She's gotten better at controlling both of them but right now her control is completely shot. Not only did her mind irreparably damage your father's mind but whatever Slade did in Rae's mind also damaged hers. It doesn't help that she also shielded you from the brunt of the attack. Hence your new tattoos." As he said this she looked at her arm trying valiantly to hide the panic in her eyes as she did so. The sleeve of the tunic was glowing bright red as the symbols appeared.

"What does it mean?" She said not sure how to react to what he was telling her.

"Most likely that a bond between your mind and hers has formed. One that will allow you to experience snatches of her emotions. It could even let her read your mind." He shrugged and added as an afterthought, "This kind of bond works both ways though. So its possible that you could even read her mind."

"That's comforting." She said fighting to maintain a calm outward demeanor.

"If you're worried that she'll influence you or take advantage..." He trailed off, debating with himself if he should say anything or not. "You didn't hear this from me but Raven isn't meditating on the roof right now, she's wallowing in self-loathing and cursing her existence. She never intended for you to get caught up in her attack."

She was speechless at his revelation. The memories of Raven's life that she experienced filled her mind to the brim but not the images, it was the emotion's that Raven felt during them; Rage and self-loathing.

_**Their hatred is palpable and presses down on her like a physical presence. She is already aware of their decision. But the woman's hatred shines through the rest. It cuts sharp and hot like super-heated metal. She does not linger nor does she wait. She simply disappears from the Watchtower without a sound. Their hatred follows her and it will never leave her.** _

As the foreign sensation of emotions that don't belong to her fade she finds that this supposed bond isn't as daunting as she thought. "Thank you for telling me. I should probably return to my room."

She is surprised when he says. "You could always hang out with me and Zen. And watch me kick her ass at Super Starship Racers 2."

"If I must." Her small smile took the sting out of her tone. _Is this what its like to have people in your life that care?_

"I heard that tin man."

Her smile grew a little wider as Cyborg pouted at the waterbender.

A couple hours later and she was witness to the truly spectacular sight of a grown man whining."No fair you're cheating."

"I said I'd let you win but I never said anything about how many races I'd let you win." Zen said with a grin plastered on her face. It was not a nice one either.

"She does have a point." She would be lying if she said she wasn't enjoying this.

"Why is everyone always so mean to me." He grumbled good-naturally as he thrust the controller at Azula. She stared blankly at the strange device in his hand.

"Well then, princess, why don't you try to beat her?"

"I've no idea how to play this game." Other then a slight tensing of the muscles in her shoulders, she ignored his unintended jab.

"Oh really?" She did not like the tone of his voice. "Then why were you so intently focused on our hands while we played? Why have I seen you shadowing our movements on that controller," He gestured to the device in question that was suspiciously laying on the couch not far from her. "for the last couple of races?" His face was pathetic and so miserable. _His face is half-metal. How can he possibly make it look so..._

"I accept your challenge but only one race." She saw him immediately perk up when she agreed to the contest. She shook her head and cast a glance at Zen, the waterbender had this air about her.

"I do not wish to be coddled." Her words had a fire spreading in dark blue.

"As if Azula."

"FIGHT!" And at his shout their showdown began.

Minutes later a string of curses spilled from the waterbender's mouth like water from a broken faucet. "Fucking hell. Y-you beat my highest score...in one race."

"Way to go princess."

"I'm not a princess anymore." She said as she tossed the controller at him with a little more force than necessary. He dodged her projectile with no trouble.

"Once a princess- gah." A water whip hit the back of his head and sent him flying across the room.

"It's for the best that you don't finish that sentence mister." Zen's voice is disturbingly pleasant but incongruous with her actions. As the waterbender's focused narrowed to the stunned Cyborg, Azula left the room. She'd had enough of this farce, she needed to know if this was real or a terrible delusion conjured up by her mind. If none of this was real, she wasn't sure that she'd survive when reality came knocking...

* * *

**Titan's Tower, Noon; the Roof/Day 20  
**

* * *

' ** _Mistress-_** _' She was violently cut off as a shadowy fist smashed into her stomach._

_'I don't want to hear it Rage.'_

_Their mistress was understandably upset._

_'Mistress you know as well as we do that no one escapes the Pit without something to show for it.'_

_'And whose fault is that?!' The gathered emotes flinched, none more so than Red whom the most venom was directed at._

_'Actually it was her idea to create the bond in order to ensure the best outcome for Azula. The bond simply ties your minds together.' She was as nervous as Red was as their mistress's black gaze pinned her in place._

_'I didn't peg you for a glutton for punishment, we have learned that you are not above being shut out like the others.' The emote recoiled at this and a whimper escaped at the mere notion of being shut out again._

_'Please mistress it was the only way to protect Azula's mind and to grantee that our mind would stabilize at a faster rate.' Courage met their mistress's gaze and held it until their mistress looked away. 'I know.'_

_The gathered emotes were taken aback at how broken she sounded. It was surreal for their mistress only ever treated them with disdain or detached coolness. No one was brave enough, not even Courage, to attempt to approach their mistress. They would wait for her to speak, it was the least that they could do for her._

_'We did what we had to. But do any of you have any idea of what this could do to her. To us. We could already feel her emotions but now, we'll feel everything, she'll feel everything. We'll see into her mind, she'll see into ours. But of course the cherry on top of this is the repression of her memories in favor of ours. She's going to know everything about us.'_

_'I can't think of how that's a bad thing.' Like with Courage, Affection withstood their mistress's scrutiny._

_'It is when we-'_

"I want to see them."

Raven's eyes snapped open and it took her a moment to orient herself. When she did her eyes found Azula. The firebender was leaning against the wall, gold eyes calculating and piercing, no longer were they hollow. Her bones weren't as prominent as they were when she first arrived at the Tower. Her face was the most drastically changed, it was more alive, more alluring but still guarded, still cold.

Raven tilted her head to the side, waiting to see if Azula would elaborate. She wasn't waiting for long. "I want to see the places from your memory."

"Fair enough."

Before Azula could blink a bone deep chill washed over her and the first thing that came into focus was a dark underground chamber, a very familiar chamber; one that had Raven's birthmarks flaring brightly across her skin.

"Welcome to the old library." She said with a flat toneless voice as well as a blank face to go with it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **  
> _Seishin-tekina doku is Japanese for 'spiritual poison'. Also I was highly amused at the scene with the different kind of bras (I'm making a big assumption that the fashion in ATLAverse has yet to invent decent bras), and yes Azula is wearing a sports bra._  
>  **
> 
>  
> 
> ****  
> _If you are wondering about what that strange creature on Azula's shirt is that would be a bat. She is totally wearing a Batman shirt.  
>  One last thing I have not taken Calligraphy lessons and I am not an expert so please address all complaints of authenticity to: someone who has the time to research these things properly. _  
> 


	18. Fractured Fragments

**Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender or Teen Titans. I own only the plots/ideas/situations that I have placed the characters in and my OCs.**

* * *

**Jump City; The old library/Day 20  
**

* * *

She shivered as Raven's voice echoed around her. _**A shadow fell upon her and as she looked up she says,**_ _**"It is time. The prophecy shall be fulfilled."**_

She tries to dislodge the image from her head but more rise up.

_**They are all round her. Entities of fire and malice, they will not harm her. As she makes to ascend the alter, a commotion behind causes the entities to spring into action.** _

_**"Raven!"** _

_**With a wave she sends them away.** _

_**"It has already begun and there is no stopping what is meant to be."** _

_**He argues but it is futile.** _

_**"I've known my whole life that this day was going to come. I tried controlling my dark side, I hoped that by fighting against evil I could make up for the horrible thing I was born to do."** _

_**"No one knows their destiny. There are things that are impossible to know." He was pleading, but it was his fervent almost desperate hope that pained her.** _

_**"There were somethings I didn't know." It was difficult for her to face them but they need to hear it, it was after all the last that they would hear from her, "Like how I'd make wonderful friends. I just wanted this last day to be perfect. Instead you spent it worrying about me."** _

_**His smile was warm. "And that's what friends do."** _

_**She moved away from them, her soul-self gathering, "And as my friends you have to let me go."** _

_**It is the strongest manifestation that she's ever created without her mantra. As they attempt to break it, she feels each hit, the anger, the helplessness, and the loss. The stone beneath her rises and helps her ascend the alter. She falls easily into the lotus position atop it. "The gem was born of evil's fire, the gem shall be his portal, he comes to claim, he comes to sire, the end of all things mortal."** _

_**With the last line of prophecy spoken her eyes light up and her birthmarks flare, glowing the brightest that they ever have. She forces the agony down but a muffled scream rends the air. Everything goes black.** _

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos." Raven's voice breaks through the slew of memories. Her right arm is glowing faintly but its cold where Raven's hand rests. She swiftly steps back and barely manages to keep from falling as she trips over something. She glares daggers at the rocky ground and kicks the likely culprit away. It clatters loudly in the darkness. _Real. Its all real. This is really happening. Real. Real. Real._

Her breath is fast as is the beat of her heart, the darkness around her was closing in. Her chest was tight, constricting painfully.

"It was not my intention to harm you further." Raven's tone wasn't flat like before, it wasn't warm either but it cut through her panic like a knife. "I'm sorry."

"Harm? You've done more to help me than my own family. If I can live with seeing dragons for most of my life, I think I can handle your emotions." She was equal part baffled, equal part grateful. She did her best to ignore how bittersweet it all was; that complete strangers cared more for her well being than her family ever had.

"There are a few things that I couldn't tell Cyborg about our bond." The flatness was back in Raven's tone. But she was overwhelmed with emotions that were very negative, almost deadly.

"What things?" She was distressed to see no visible reaction from Raven. She was even intentionally trying for intimidating, instead a crooked grin was the response.

"I don't know about you but I could do with some sun."

This time she was ready for that encompassing chill.

* * *

**Jump City; Titan Park/Day 20  
**

* * *

She was basking in the sun, it was hard not to, after being released from Raven's shadows, they were cold. Her teeth were chattering and shivers racked her body. She'd only ever been this affected by cool temperatures before she was five. _It seems my bending is going to be difficult now._

"Its not a fur lined parka but it will keep you warm." She can hear the faint amusement in Raven's voice. She wants to rejected the proffered cloak, believing that Raven is making a joke at her expense but as soon as that thought is there; she knows that its not a joke. Or rather its a joke that Raven and Zen share.

Her lips twitch as she accepts the black and gold cloak. Once she has it clasped securely around her, "I take it that is one of those 'things' you've neglected to mention to Cyborg?"

"Among other things." Raven's non answers were starting to frustrate her to no end. But when Raven gestured toward a nearby fountain surrounded by benches, she pushed her frustrations down and followed after her... _'Guide? Friend? Savior? Just what or who is Raven to me?'_

_'Does it really matter, Sifu?' The yellow armored Intelligence loosed a sigh when their mistress's presence faded. 'Way too soon to establish contact. Had she just waited a second I could have answered her question. Ah well she'll figure it out.'_

_And more importantly it was her turn to monitor the situation in the dungeons and to see Rage about how wonky their bending was acting lately._

_'Honestly even when those dragons finally leave us alone they cause problems.'_

Her steps faltered when she'd heard another voice in her head but thankfully they had reached the benches and she instantly sank down onto the nearest one. She did her level best to force her racing thoughts to slow.

"That's another thing that I had Cyborg save for me to explain. Somethings can't be learned second hand."

"So you just decided to let him confuse me even more about damaged minds and a bond." Normally seeing the target of her ire flinch was satisfying but Raven's flinch made her feel awful. But she was done waiting for her answers. "You seem to have recovered rather well from said damaged mind."

"Does sensitivity to light, sound, and having no barrier up to temper my empathy with or reliably at any rate sound like better to you." Now that Raven mentioned it, she did notice the sunglasses. "And its a good thing I've already established a foundation matrix for travel to and from your dimension. Because my shadows are unstable and unsafe for anyone other then me and you right now, at least for things like dimension travel."

Azula was unsure of how to respond to that nor did she know how to handle what she believed was whining from Raven. But it wasn't whining, it was pain. It was alive behind her eyes as the sunlight was reflected off of a passing bicyclist's bike it was like shards of glass were being shoved outward. Her skull was throbbing as every footfall rocketed around inside of it. Mercifully the sensations left her.

"You're lucky that the bond hasn't stabilized yet. I'll start with the most obvious thing; our emotions. I'm already familiar with yours but mine are demonic in nature and as a half-demon, I feel them differently. My emotions are also physical. For example my rage ignites every muscle in my body with unbearable heat that needs an outlet, that's where the shadows I control come in, by destroying windows or cracking walls. My emotions shouldn't trouble you too much, I'm adept at controlling them. So the most that you will feel of them is an echo."

If she had not seen Raven's memories she wouldn't believe any of what she was being told. More alarmingly she understood it for the most part.

"The less obvious is the repression of your memories in favor of reliving mine. The Pit is designed to force anyone caught in it to relive my worst memories as if they were experiencing them as I did. Insanity is the only outcome as my memories haunt the victims. They hallucinate about key moments of my life that twist into their worst fears which in turn causes them to lash out violently. It will be different for you. I protected you from the worst of it. But as the bond stabilizes you'll learn more about me as you work your way through my life."

"That doesn't sound too bad." It didn't sound any worse then the dragons.

"That sentiment won't last long." Raven's response shouldn't have bothered her as much is it did. But it did bother her. Everything about this conversation had then it all fell into place.

"You're not him." She whispered and from the sharp intake of breath that greeted her words, she'd hit the nail on the head. "You're not your father. He wouldn't have cared enough to protect me in that pit."

She wanted to laugh at the irony of this moment. She never could stand seeing the people that she cared about in misery; the truth was that in an alarmingly short time, she's grown to care about Raven, Starfire, Zen and the other two. _'Well mother? How did I do? Is that good enough for you to love me now?' She sighed, not expecting any answer, least of all from the one person she needed them from._

"We're not the only ones who care."

She couldn't help the laugh that did break free of her control at that. "Even though my memories are repressed right now, and the last six years are vague, I don't recall any of my so called friends trying to visit or prove that they care."

"Your uncle tried to get your brother to see reason and get you off of Crescent Isles. Your brother then threatened to have him imprisoned." At her imploring look, "I can only assume that he warned your friends. But if you want his reasons for arguing your release, you'll have to ask him."

They fell silent. Both of them were lost in this crossroads of family drama that's left marks upon them, some more visible than others. It was a pleasantly tension free silence. That is until a scream shattered it. "Mommy!"

Her eyes were instantly scanning for the source of the shout and what she saw, made her blood boil. There was a person running along one of the many paved pathways through the park, holding two screaming kids under their arms. The person was racing for a nondescript van idling at the end of the path. She wanted to rip this person in half. She gave herself a shake but the heat that burned through her veins did not abate. She risked a glance at Raven, she was nowhere to be seen.

And suddenly she couldn't breath. Stars danced across her field of vision and pain blossomed over her muscles. Then the sensations were gone and she could breath again. Her attention was drawn by the murmuring of a crowd. The person was sprawled on the ground in front of a wall of shadows. Beyond that wall she could just make out Raven standing in front of two kids.

She watched fascinated as Raven covered the person in shadows before disappearing herself and reappearing moments later. That's when another echo from Raven hit her, it was unlike anything before. There was fear, so much fear, and hatred. Fear was the deepest pool that drowned Raven.

_"I hope those kids are okay."_

_"Yeah I though that monster was kicked off the team for what she did to those rioters last year."_

_"You would think that after she almost killed Holly Forgen that she'd never be allowed to go near kids again. What's their leader thinking?"_

_"She set a dragon on her own teammates once."_

As she went to rise from the bench to set someone on fire, "They're not worth it."

She glanced around and spotted a rather attractive blonde haired girl reading a book on the next bench over. "Those idiots should be thankful that Raven's a hero. Cause if she ever grows tired of their bullshit...the whole planet is well and truly fucked."

"And you are?" Blondie waved a hand dismissively at her.

"No one important, Azula of the Fire Nation. But if you must know a meta-human that wasn't born with a flashy active power like being able to shoot lightning bolts from my eyes. Meta-humans are like benders from your neck of the woods. My powers only work when they are needed and the powers I get vary from auspicious moment to auspicious moment.

Like today I received a vision of Raven and you, having a very emotionally wrought conversation about family. But then she leaves to do her job and you getting riled up on her behalf. I can also read your mind. I'm here to stop you from doing something drastic. Raven's lived with this animosity for years. She'll be fine."

"Why else are you here?" Blondie turned a page and seemed to be completely ignoring her. Then a smile spreads across Blondie's face.

"Who knows? I just go where my flighty powers take me. Maybe I was supposed to be here to give Raven a beacon of positive emotions to focus on so she wouldn't give up the life of a hero and maybe I was here for you to ogle."

"Don't flatter yourself." Blondie finally looks in her direction there's a smirk, small and almost innocent, almost.

"I get it. I'm not her am I?" She completely ignores Blondie's question as from the corner of her eye she spots Raven's shadows spreading across the park's trees. She already closed half the distance between her and Raven. As she approaches the small crowd and the mother of the children, she hears, "Get away from them."

"I think the words you're looking for are thank you." She always prided herself on mastering a voice that's as cold as ice. It amused her that everyone expects the prodigy firebender to be warm and inviting like her element; she only reserves warmth for those she finds worthy.

"E-Excuse me?" She notes that the woman has a kind face and seems to exude that kindness in her eyes. But its all marred by the secondary echo of emotions that the firebender feels from her bond with Raven.

"I said ' I think the words you're looking for are thank you'." She smiles and it gets wider as she see's the spark of fear in the woman's eyes. "If I were Raven, I wouldn't have lifted a finger. I would have let your brats get taken. I fail to see why she even bothered to save them, if this is the thanks that she gets."

"I-"

"Mark my words, one day she might just let it all burn." A heavy silence settles between them, gold eyes boring into pale green.

"Um Miss scary lady?" The question is accompanied by a tug on the cloak that forces her to look down. Where an awed grin greets her. Its one of the brats. "Please ignore our mom. She doesn't like that fact that Miss Raven is our favorite Titan. She's the coolest."

"Uh huh. And if you're a new member of the Titans we think you're pretty awesome too."

Not long after the children's declaration Raven and Miss scary lady disappeared from the park and everyone continued with their day. On a bench near the fountain a blond girl slowly closed her book, stood up, stretched the aches out of her muscles, and walked along the paved path nearest her out of the park. "Or I was here to inspire you, Azula, to help keep your girlfriend from blowing the park sky high."

* * *

**Titan's Tower, night; the roof/Day 20  
**

* * *

Her mind was a jumbled mess and not even the vast ocean below brought any sense of peace to her thoughts like it usually did. They'd returned to the tower after the incident at the park. Raven assured her that they would resume their interrupted conversation later. Then she was surprised, though she really shouldn't have been, when Raven left her to her own devices. As usual her thoughts drifted to Raven.

She recalled the intense burning rage that enveloped her when she saw the kidnapper running across the park. Then the pain of the kidnapper's impact with the shadows, the overwhelming fear, the hatred, and all of it left her raw.

_'If that was an echo...I would hate to feel the full brunt of her emotions.' She shivered and pulled the cloak closed; she was still wearing it and was reluctant to part with it._

_'Still an improvement over the dragons, Sifu.' She tried really hard not to jump at the voice._

_'Six years in that hellhole and its only after I escape that I start hearing voices.' An image of herself wearing yellow armor sporting a pair of glasses superimposed itself across her vision. The person sketched a bow and vanished._

"They're not voices." She didn't turn to look at Raven as she glimpsed the blue cloak on her left, Raven's back was leaning on the railing. "Its a side effect that my mirror has on anyone whose used it. It establishes a connection to your mindscape allowing you to converse with your emoticlones or emotes; people created from your emotions. They are your thoughts. One day you'll be able to enter your mindscape through meditation."

_'That's not good. That's not good at all.' She did her level best to ignore the interruption._

"What does the yellow one signify?"

"Intelligence, mine also goes by madam Snark, Bookworm, or Mistress Worm. She's the one that is the least aggravating for me."

"Yet you gave her a nickname."

A weary sigh escapes Raven. "The other emotes gave her those. I have never addressed them as such, it would give them the wrong idea as well as an invitation to exert their will over me."

"Are you afraid of them?" Her tone is incredulous even if its kind of hypocritical of her to feel this way. She herself was just as afraid of emotion, anything that her father perceived as a weakness. And unfortunately emotions were weakness.

"I was for the longest time. Control was the safest option, the only option, to prevent destroying the universe. It still hard to let go of that control mostly because my soul-self is destructive by nature."

She nodded in understanding but loosed a frustrated breath as she did so.

"Subjective omniscience is another side effect from the bond as it begins to stabilize. Everything that I know on a instinctive level in regards to my abilities, emotions, and memories, gives you the sense of understanding and sub-consciously fills in the blanks."

"So ordinarily if we didn't share this bond I wouldn't have understood any of what you just said? Is that also way I have the urge to find Slade and skin him alive?" She said while cursing inwardly as she waited for a reaction from Raven.

"Pretty much."

"This bond is getting worse the more its explained," Despite her inability to see Raven's face she can feel the bubble of negativity swell, "I hate how easily I trusted you, it frustrates me how safe I feel around you, and If I hadn't felt those things before the tussle with my father and Slade in your mind happened. I wouldn't hesitate to kill you for manipulating me. But from the moment that you made good on that promise, to help me in that hellhole, I trusted you. All of that points to one terrifying logical conclusion that, I'm fond of your company."

"And you don't trust it."

This was getting ridiculous she was supposed to get help for her issues not the other way around. "I'm very well aware of my feelings toward you. I happen to be in agreement with them but you won't like who I become when my memories surface. Essentially as nice as these feelings are they complicate matters far too much. And you don't deserve such a broken individual."

"Well Firecracker, its a good thing you don't get to choose for me." The maelstrom of emotions that followed Raven's words was a declaration of her intention.

Before Azula could say anything Raven was gone once again.

* * *

**Titan's Tower; the Training room.../Day 21  
**

* * *

There were many reasons why she was often apathetic in regards to her bending, especially in the early morning hours after a long night. Yesterday was one of the longest that she could remember. _'Sifu stop worrying about it. You're giving me a headache.'_

_She rolled her eyes and said, 'Technically I'm giving myself one.'_

_'Don't be cute. It doesn't suit you.' She almost felt bad for Mai and Ty Lee now that she was on the receiving end of her own sharp tongue._

_'Do you think she meant it though?'_

_The emote was silent for a long time. 'She wouldn't have protected us if she didn't. I also think that that slip last night was unintentional. She hasn't quite realized that she belongs to us.'_

_'We can't just-'_

_'We belong to her too.'_

_'We were hers the moment she made good on that promise.' It was quiet between them for a moment._

_'That's a terrifying prospect, Sifu.'_

"Hey," It was a struggle to not flash fry the man sitting across from her, three feet separated them. She hadn't even noticed his entry. "its Azula right?"

A nod was his answer.

"I'm Robin. Its nice to see that you're doing better now."

"Why do you care? Why do they care? Why does..." She trailed off, unwilling to let him get close. She is still unsure about him.

"Short answer? Raven went out of her way to bring you here. She went Red Menace, that's what we call her demonic half/Rage, on that Ashfall place. And that tells me that what ever happened when she was in your mind affected her." He said amusement layering his tone.

"You care because she does?"

"No. I care because you're not afraid of what she is. Rage can sense that and so can Raven." He loosed a breath and that white sightless mask was focused on her. "Despite our best efforts she can tell that we're afraid that Rage will take over and we'll lose her."

"Typical of peasants to be so stupid. She's the same person." She was surprised by his laughter and the smile that he flashed her.

"Say would you like to spar with me? Raven said you were a general and something about conquering a huge city without casualties." She was taken thoroughly aback at his offer. Then a dangerous smile split her face.

"Very well. I hope you won't be disappointed when you lose."

"That's funny I was about to say the same to you."

Three rounds later and she was laid out on the mat breathing hard. Her only consolation was that Robin seemed to be in the same condition. She wanted to keep going but Robin said, sounding suspiciously like Zen, "I would hate to see what you can do when your fully recovered. I think your last kick broke a rib."

"I learn the hard way, go big or go home." The turn of phrase caught Robin's attention. It was odd to hear it from Azula even though he was expecting something like it. After that Slade fiasco and Raven's trip into his mind, they both had some weird innate understanding of things that they hadn't had before; like spells and rituals for him while Raven got a basic feel for martial arts.

"Speaking of that, I was expecting you to use your bending."

"That was one thing my father never managed to convince me of. Bending is all well and good but when I was really young an old nobleman told me a story. A story that had been passed down in his family for generations. The day of Black Sun, the day when every firebender lost their bending and the Earth Kingdom almost destroyed the Fire Nation. But it was his ancestor whom never relied solely on his bending to defeat his enemies; General Tao lead the Fire Nation's non-bending soldiers to victory against the invaders. I gained a healthy respect for non-benders after hearing about it and strove to master a non-bending form of defense." She wasn't going to tell him the whole truth behind that respect that grew over the years but he was rather perceptive. So with a rueful small smile she added, "That and my bending isn't very impressive right now. I've lost the drive that fuels it. It'll just be a matter of finding a new one."

"You'll find one." He said as he stood and held out his hand for her. "Come on. The faster we get done with the cool down, the faster we can have breakfast."

Agony seized her heart as she allowed him to pull her off the ground. He was so much like Zuzu but unlike her brother, Robin actually cared.

* * *

The sight that greeted them as they entered the common room was unexpected but very welcome to the starved pair. Raven was making pancakes, that actually looked really, really good. "Robin my empathy is still extra sensitive."

He valiantly tried to curb his astonished disbelief that she could cook. Yesterday was Cyborg's turn to cook but the H.I.V.E incident interrupted, he figured that Cy managed to finish cooking before they got the alert... _Now that I'm thinking about it she was in the kitchen when we got back._

"I almost dragged both of you here. And you do know that Zen is going to feed you your intestines when she finds out about the sparing session, right?"

"She doesn't scare me. Since when do you know how to cook?" He asked as he sat at the bar. Azula joined him shortly after and was witness to the nastiest glare that she'd ever seen on Raven, directed at Robin.

"Cyborg flat out forced me into cooking lessons after my disastrous one time stab at it on that day three years ago." The floating assortment of kitchen utensils belied Raven's glare. "Question my skills again and I'll feed you those."

Robin shuddered involuntarily at the insinuation of her 'specialty pancakes', "I wasn't questioning, its just surprising is all. I thought it was Starfire's turn to cook."

A trickle of sweat slid down his face before Raven turned back to the griddle.

He had to salvage this somehow. "So what are you making then?"

"I made a batch of 'those' for Starfire. Everyone else, who don't have nine stomachs, get blueberry pancakes."

"Pancakes?" She asked and hoped that pancakes were as good as those waffles.

"You can't be serious." She saw him occupy the seat on her left. Then he leaned in way too close but not close enough to justify a fiery reaction. "First waffles and now pancakes. What next? French toast."

"Allow me to remind you gears for brains that I'm not from this dimension." The way he recoiled as if burned was entertaining, the kicked puppy look was the cherry on top.

"Excuses, excuses Princ- urgha." He was cut off as a water whip slammed into him. He tumbled off the stool and hit the ground with a nice solid thud.

"Be nice mister or I'll siphon out all the lubrication components in your oil ducts." A pained sounding whimper was his only response as the waterbender stepped around him and stole his seat.

"Why do you look exhausted Azula?" The waterbender's eyes narrowed as Robin started, she wouldn't have caught the movement if she hadn't been watching the Titans training sessions.

Right as the tension had reached fever pitch a shout shattered it. "Friend Azula I wish you the good morning."

"Thanks Starfire." It was easier than she expected to get used to Starfire's enthusiasm and to keep the pain from surfacing at the reminder of her own enthusiastic friend.

"If everyone's done bickering, the food's up." Everyone's attention was drawn to the plates in front of them. In addition to a stack of five pancakes, four strips of bacon, and hash browns filled their plates; with exception of Starfire's, her plate had a dozen gooey bubbling brown things covered with green fungus that were drowned in mustard on it.

As the others started to dig in, Azula paused as she saw Raven move further down the counter towards the fridge. She made the effort to control her emotions so that she wouldn't give her curiosity away and focused intently on not devouring her pancakes with abandon, it was the same struggle that she'd had with those waffles, while subtly watching Raven out of the corner of her eye. From the fridge Raven pulled out a covered metal bowl. She knew it was filled with raw meat and blood.

She saw Raven freeze, felt the disgust, loathing, and bottomless hunger. As always the emotions were a fleeting sensation like the momentary warmth as the fire spills from the mouth. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly before letting detached indifference be all that she felt. Though she would admit to being curious as to why raw meat as opposed to the cooked variety.

_**"High Priestess Azar, thank the gods you're here." The cloaked figure's eyes betrayed nothing as she swept past the ignorant fool. "The order will compensate you for any damage our youngest member caused."** _

_**The shell-shocked man's eyes widened."She's a member?"** _

_**"Leave." The man bowed and left. As a precaution she threw up a barrier to keep him out. She strode in through the door and stopped dead. Piles upon piles of bones lay strewn throughout the storage area. Her eyes swept back and forth over the piles looking for her charge. It was as her eyes passed a pile in the corner that she heard the steady rhythm of her charge's breathing. But before she'd made a single move, the shadows came alive. She was taken aback when it coalesced into a fully mature version of her charge.** _

**_'I don't have much time to spare. If you do not want a repeat of this, heed my words. As a demon, half or otherwise, I require large quantities of fresh meat and blood. The majority of it has to be raw. The protein will keep the shell that I am bound to, together.'_ **

_**Then the shadows vanished and she quickly swept her sleeping charge up while sparing an idle thought for the clean up. Her magics were on top of that as her sole focus was on Raven.** _

_**"The burdens you carry will destroy us all if you let them. I am going to help prepare you as best as I can to fight him." She closed her eyes against the torrent of memories, the choices that their foolish elders made. "One day when you know the truth I won't begrudge you your hatred. For now the training I will give you, is all that I can do to make those burdens easier to bare."  
** _

It was enough to make her sick to realize that Raven was who she could have been if anyone, had given her a chance. Her vision was tunneling as each breath came faster as a familiar soothing emptiness grew within her. The tower's sirens were a welcome distraction from her distress. She stayed unnaturally still as the others around her rushed off to save the day.

The room was empty in seconds, well almost empty. "Follow me."

And she did as the soothing emptiness started building again. Her mind was filled with a fog of rage that she was all to happy to lose herself in, once upon a time. She fought against it as hard as she could but she was so tired of fighting it. So she gave in and the emptiness was all that she knew.

* * *

She woke to find herself, once more, in a room she doesn't remember entering. But this time it was a far more interesting room then the many other's she'd been in. The walls on either side of the bed were covered in books, scrolls, and strange artifacts. There was a rustle to her left and her eyes locked on the source, it was Raven.

"What happened?"

She watched as Raven placed the black ribbon inside the book, closed it, and send it to the top shelf of the bookcase behind her. "The bond we share caused a feedback loop. That memory at breakfast synchronized my emotions from the memory and amplified your emotions. That put a considerable strain on your mind and body. The excess energy caused by my runes on your arm, it needed an out. Once it completely stabilizes that won't happen anymore."

"I really should be angry about this bond. Its the ultimate form of manipulation but I can tell how much worse it is for you." She hated all of it. The confusion, the fear, the rage, how bothered she was by Raven's self-loathing, and she was frightened by how she cared. She wanted to do something to, anything to get Raven to feel something other than self-loathing. She was so much like her mother that it hurt but she didn't care, she never did when the people worth her time needed her. "Just tell me why you protected me? I need you to say it."

"I'm fond of your company too..." She almost set fire to that blue cloak when there was no inflection in Raven's voice as it trailed off. She looked away from the infuriating woman only for her eyes to be drawn to the glowing gold dragon on the cloak that'd been serving as her blanket."Firecracker."


	19. Warring Factions

**Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender or Teen Titans. I own only the plots/ideas/situations that I have placed the characters in and my OCs.**

* * *

  **Kyoshi Island; Outside the Infirmary/Day 40  
**

* * *

Her eyes tracked him as he completed his latest circuit of the infirmary's porch. It was hard to see him like this. She wanted to march up to him and shake him out of this unnatural state but she didn't. She had done the same four days ago while Toph had been treated for her injuries. With that thought firmly in mind she absorbed his restlessness in silent commiseration from her perch on the porch's railing; much like a lazy cat.

Her thoughts drifted back to the second day after the attack on Ba Sing Se and the ensuing arguments over who to blame. It was the only time she'd ever seen Toph so torn but the blind general had sided with her and Gar. And from there the argument got even more heated. Thankfully or not so thankfully Terra almost destroyed the island and Katara, Toph, and Giz were forced to put their heads together to help her.

Despite the pressing matter at hand and mounting evidence in support of the Brotherhood's involvement the majority of the island believed that the Fire Nation were starting another war and the tension among the gAang was ready to snap.

"They've been in there a really long time. Do you think something's wrong?" He said and she nearly toppled off the railing in surprise. She refrained from glaring at him. "Are you doubting Giz? And Toph."

"No I have faith in him and your girlfriend." He waved off her irritation and indignation at his cheek, she had nothing on Rae. "Its just they've been in their for six hours and they had to send for Ty Lee."

"She's a chi blocker. Terra's geo-mancy was probably acting up again." He sighed and moved off to start pacing some more.

"Do you want me to call Rae." She said. She heard his footsteps falter.

"No. She's got enough to deal with over there and need I remind you that she's on vacation." He went back to pacing and she settled in to watch him pace. After all he'd done the same for her and now it was her turn to repay the favor.

Moments later and a group of four rag-tag dead tired people exited the building, one of them made a bee line for her. "Long time no see."

The blind general let out a huff of amusement before she collapsed on the porch with her back leaning on the railing. "Well Madam fussy britches wanted to double check that we got all of those nano-whatsits. Then there was one that attached itself to the base of earth girl's spine. But everything worked out."

"That's good." She jumped off the railing and pulled the unresisting Toph off of the ground. "Come on there's a bed in the dojo with our names on it."

They hadn't been asleep for a hour before explosions woke them. If there was one thing that the members of Black magic, and Raven, had learned about their leader it was to never ever wake her up after she just fell asleep. Not even if the world was ending. Because her powers became extremely volatile if she was disturbed as she entered rem sleep. Arcs of pink energy were racing toward the source of said explosions and met little resistance along the way.

"Once I'm through with them. Those brotherhood assholes will think twice about fucking with my beauty sleep." The hex caster growled out as she followed after the Kyoshi warriors.

* * *

**Kyoshi Island; the Dojo/Day 47  
**

* * *

She was about to level the entire island. The last week had been a nightmare as more and more attacks were thrown at her team and the port. And with each successive attack the argument of who was responsible for Ba Sing Se created a rift. On one side was Team Black Magic, Gar, Terra, Toph, Ty Lee, and Suki, surprisingly enough. A divide among the Kyoshi warriors formed shortly after, half of them wanted Ty Lee thrown out of the group and the other half stood behind her.

On the other side was the Avatar, half of the Kyoshi warriors, Katara and her brother, and Lou Zun's council of elders. The very same council that was currently trying to strip Suki of her position. She was half tempted to give Raven a call and ask her to go Red Menace on everyone. But she knew it was just the trying hellish week talking and there was no way that she'd disturb Rae on her vacation, the half-demon had earned the respite.

She sighed wearily and closed her eyes, not willing to muster the energy to rise from her position. Plus it'd be extremely difficult to dislodge the dosing blind earthbender cuddling into her side; this, she decided, more than made up for the headaches caused by the Brotherhood's daily attacks.

She was skating the edge of sleep when a shout shattered the early morning silence. "An air balloon has crashed into the bay!"

Both occupants of the room loosed growls of frustration as they rushed out after the Kyoshi warriors, still fully dressed and ready for anything; they'd long since given up on taking off their clothes before trying to sleep. Along the way they picked up stragglers from Black Magic and the Kyoshi warriors. As they reached the bay they saw that the avatar and the elders had beaten them to the shore where a small group of people were dragging themselves out of the water.

She heard shouted accusations as everyone moved closer.

"Fire lord Zuko. You dare to show your face here? After everything you've done." Elder Kintosi's voice dripped with venom as the waterlogged fire lord finally stepped on to dry land.

The fire lord didn't pay the enraged elder any mind as he helped more of his guards and palace servants out of the water. There were more people still swimming across the bay from the sinking airship. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Kyd move forward to better visualize the airship. "Kyd," His head swiveled toward her. "Take Gar and X with you to the ship."

With a nod he disappeared. As she returned her attention back to the fire lord she saw Avatar Que-ball step forward, elder Kintosi however beat him to the punch, later she would lament her lack of popcorn for the show. "Well what have you to say to defend yourself?!"

"The palace was attacked early this morning, we barely made it out of there alive." His voice was subdued as he turned back to the water scanning the waves for anyone who was close to land.

"Lies!" Kintosi snarled at the fire lord's back. There was a whistle in the air and then elder Kintosi yelped as a sharp sting bit into the side of his face. A steady stream of warm blood traveled down his cheek.

"Lily and Rook may very well be dead." The woman's eyes glimmered dangerously as she moved toward the elder with effortless grace. "My children may very well be dead. Do not push me old man."

Elder Kintosi shrank away from the woman as she roughly pushed him out of her way to help a new group of people as they reached the shore.

"Zuko please tell us why you tried to start the war again? Why did you invade Ba Sing Se?" She groaned inwardly at Avatar Tactless as she saw the murderous intent flash in the eyes of the fire lord and the woman.

"Does it fucking look like we invaded Ba Sing Se?!" He was angry, so angry and scared for the fate of his children as he gestured wildly to the sinking airship; a handful of guards were dragging themselves out of the surf a little ways down the beach.

She had had enough. She shot a blast of wind at the avatar and elder Kintosi, and with a little help from her hex bolts she pushed the large group of people crowding the fire lord back. "For the last fucking time Avatar Tactless, it wasn't the Fire Nation that attacked Ba Sing Se."

"Right like we're just supposed to take your word for it." Her eyes flashed pink and she could feel tension beneath her skin building with every word that Katara spoke. " It was the Brotherhood." There were protests that she silenced with another blast of wind. "From a tactical view point the Fire Nation gains nothing by crippling themselves. Nor would they attempt to seek refuge with the very Nation they attacked. So as much as I have loved entertaining your fears about another war, it stops right now. Because this is exactly what the Brotherhood wants; infighting.

Now if you are just going to be obstinate assholes leave. Katara, I sent Kyd, Gar, and X to evacuate the people who are still trapped on the airship. Go to the infirmary as I have no doubt that many of them are wounded. Avatar Tactless you've done more harm then good so I'd make myself scarce if I were you. The Kyoshi warriors who've sided against your leader, you can go with him. Elder Kintosi for your own safety stay the hell away from knife lady over there because I'm half tempted to let her turn your stubborn moronic ass into a pincushion for the rest of her knives. As for the rest of you, lets get a temporary camp set up for the Fire Nation refugees."

No one dared to argue as those she ordered to leave, left quickly. The Fire Nation refugees gained a healthy respect for the petite pink haired witch that had stood up for them.

The rest of the day saw her and team Black Magic, plus Gar, Terra, Toph, Ty Lee, and most of the Kyoshi warriors helping the fire lord and fire lady get a camp set up for everyone; Toph did most of the work creating tents for every one and a low wall around the entire area.

Terra, Zhaji, and Reina created an under ground tunnel to the airship to salvage any clothes and weapons in it. They also removed the dead, people who died as they escaped from the Fire Nation and when the airship had crashed into the bay.

Mammoth and Gar went from person to person compiling a list of everyone in the airship and helping reunite lost friends and family. A gaggle of children followed behind Gar as he moved all around the camp, helping to find their parent or parents.

Day turned to night and everyone was dead set on staying until the refugees were settled but Fire lady Mai put her foot down. "Thank you all for helping as much as you have but you won't be nearly as productive if you're half-asleep."

* * *

**Kyoshi Island; Fire Nation refugee camp/Day 49  
**

* * *

The Fire Nation Refugees had opened a whole other can of worms yesterday morning, by announcing that Ozai had escaped two weeks ago. Giving the Avatar and his supporters ground to stand on and spawning more arguments. She slammed her hands down onto the stone table as she felt a migraine developing and was pleased when every one fell silent. She took a deep breath and after she let it out, "So basically its a rogue faction of the Fire Nation that is responsible for the attacks. Or it could still be the Brotherhood. There's only one way to find out. We rescue the royal brats."

"Wait," Most of the occupants of the tent shifted their attention to the blind general. "Why didn't Nightmare show up to help you?"

At that the fire lord's face went pale. "She'd already left for Crescent Island to help my sister."

"That doesn't answer the question fire lord. Even if she was on the farthest out laying island from the capital, the range of her empathy has grown larger in the last few months. She'd have sense the attack." She said and instantly narrowed her eyes at him.

"I may have questioned her about my father's escape and an attack on Obsidian island. She was in some kind of trance when my guards detained her and my guards then went a little extreme in trying to snap her out of it." His tone had an underlying tremor in it as he spoke.

She heard a low growl from Gar and was very satisfied to see the fire lord practically jump out of his skin. She put a hand on Gar's arm to keep him from lunging for fire lord brainless. "You should consider yourself lucky that Rae isn't in the business of skinning idiots alive. Regardless of Rae's radio silence, a rogue faction of the Fire Nation looking to start the war up again, or the Brotherhood finally making their move. What we need to do is rescue the royal brats and gather as much information about the attack on the palace."

"It won't be that easy. The attackers in the palace were spirits or something because there is no way that a bender is capable of that level of destruction, save perhaps the avatar." Until that point the fire lady had remained silent and had spoken very little over the last couple of days. She'd taken to flinging knives at anyone who said something that annoyed her, generally everyone did their best to avoid her.

A wicked grin stole across the hex caster's face, Gar and Giz both shuddered at the sight of it. "You're in luck. Cause my team has been trained for these situations. Though it would be easier if Rae were here."

"Can't you contact her with your communicators?" She was already shaking her head before Suki finished asking the question. "Gar's was crushed during the evacuation of Ba Sing Se and his was the only one that's connected to the Titan network. That and the batteries in mine are dead. And all of Giz's tech runs on solar power."

"Are these communicators circular and yellow?"

"The old ones were." She said her tone dangerously low.

"There's one in the palace. And I think my uncle might have one too. Unless he kept it hidden in his tea shop."

"Sorry Lord Sparky but Terra leveled it during our tussle." There was a hint of respect in the blind general's tone.

"Then its settled we're going to rescue the royal brats." She smiled and everyone was rightfully terrified of the promised chaos held within bright fuscia eyes.

* * *

 **The** **Fire Nation, Caldera City; Royal Palace/Day 52  
**

* * *

Her instincts were screaming at her that it was too easy. It had been relatively simple for Team Black Magic to infiltrate the palace. She was expecting a fight or at least someone from the Brotherhood to greet them. But upon reaching the palace it was empty of actual people, there were however dozens of General Immortus's robot soldiers.

Despite her misgivings and the dread weighing her down, she pressed on; they needed the communicator. Over the last three days while they planned the rescue she'd been allowed to stew in her thoughts, particularly over a certain half-demon's absence. She knew Raven, knew how the woman felt, how she thought, and especially how undeserving the world was to have her protecting it. And it didn't matter what fire lord Brainless had done to her, Raven wouldn't abandoned anyone in need to the likes of the Brotherhood or whatever other assholes that decided to stir up trouble.

So she knew that there were two possibilities going forward. One, and the least likely, was that the fire lord had killed Raven. Two, the fire lord's sister was in an even worse hellhole than the asylums back home and Raven needed to get the sister out of there; the only way being to exit this dimension altogether. She was leaning towards the second because there is no way that anything, short of the combined might of the other six demon lords, was going to have a shot at killing Raven.

As she came to a junction of hallways, she raised her hand to signal Gar to check if their way was clear. A moment later and she heard the pre-arranged animal signal for 'all clear'. She motioned for him to hold position as she crept around the corner. She reached the armory doors and slipped inside.

The tile beneath her foot sunk further into the floor. She threw herself into the doors and the wood splintered as her back hit them. Her back thudded against the red tiles. She rolled into a crouch and darted to her left as the tongue of flame shot from the hole she'd created in the doors. "You know Madam Reckless. I'm insulted that my younger less clever self had ever picked you as role model."

"You should have joined us vhen you the chance. Kitten."

She snorted and had to fight down a laugh. She lost it when her former role model stalked out after the flames died down, absolute shock spreading across her face."What? Did you think I'd be angry? Its kind of hard to deny how feline I am. I'll have you know that I can purr up a storm, I hate it when it rains, milkshakes are life, and oh yeah, I have nine fucking lives."

The tiles that Madam Rouge were standing on shattered as pink sparks crackled along the red fragments. Madam Rouge plunged into the dark hole below her. The hex caster's grin was wide as she moved to the edge of the hole and shouted, "And you shouldn't have pushed your luck, bitch."

She felt like skipping so she skipped into the armory, scooped up the communicator, and skipped out. She was whistling merrily as she rounded the corner.

"Ah man, I didn't go far enough did I?" She was pouting at the vaguely disappointed look on Gar's face.

"Not nearly." He whispered.

Her grin was splitting her face now as she moved passed him. She waited until she heard him start following her. "What if I told you that the bottom of that hole is filled with lava?"

 _I think I broke him._ "Now grass stain," She glanced at him, "Stop gawking and sound the retreat. The only way this plan is going to work is if the brotherhood thinks we're leaving."

The strange howling-shriek was music to her ears. She was also viciously glad that at least one of the Brotherhood was dead or might be. And since boy blunder wasn't there to get all high and mighty about not killing she could finally go all out. _They shouldn't have sent Brother Blood to the academy._

With the retreat sounded and the others, hopefully, not captured. They just needed to find a place to lay low until the furor died down. Then search for the brats. Or at least that was the plan until her momentum sent her and Slade tumbling to the ground.

Her luck, for once, didn't suck as she landed on top of the evil mastermind's chest and was able to scramble off of him but not before jabbing him in the throat with an elbow. It would never connect as Slade threw her off and into the air. She twisted, kicking off the ceiling and sending a hail of pink arrows toward him.

She saw Slade's single eye go wide as the arrows flew to him. He dodged the first couple without trouble but was punched into the path of three more by a green clawed fist. The first arrow narrowly missed his left arm but the second and third struck his chest. She frowned when he stayed on his feet. _Damn he has magical armor._

But then Slade stumbled and Gar went in for the kill. At the last second Gar was kicked away. More arrows rent the air as she dive bombed Slade. As she passed over head Slade snagged her leg, spun her around, and hurled her into the ceiling. A sickening crack was the last thing she knew.

* * *

The first sensation known to her was a throbbing ache behind her eyes. Her head felt like someone had taken her skull, cracked it open like an egg, plopped her brain into a blender, and then hit turbo pulse but neglected to hit stop. On top of her blender-y brain headache her ears were buzzing and she really needed it to go away. She attempted to burrow further into material she was on, to escape.

After realizing that there was no escape she stilled and just lay where ever she was for awhile. Slowly the fight with Slade came back to her. Her mind stuck on the painful collision with the ceiling, she was lucky that Slade hadn't broken her neck. She groaned when the shaking started and flailed her arms, not caring to control her hex bolts as she did so. She was rewarded with a pained yelp. The shaking went away. Then it came back with a vengeance and the buzzing became unbearable. "Jinx."

" _What_?" She hissed like a wet cat. Her eyes were still firmly closed.

"Hi."

That does it, she is going to skin him alive and then feed him meat. She cracked her eyes open just enough to aim for his head but then froze as she saw the bars behind him. "I take it Slade has something to do with my brain feeling like scrambled eggs."

She pushed back against the throbbing in her head and slowly gave the dungeon a cursory inspection. The cell was big and could have fit forty more people comfortably on top of the fifty people already crammed inside of it. Every person, herself included, wore iron shackles around their ankles and wrists. _Well this just won't do._ Pink crackled along the shackles and they crumbled into rust.

"I'm going to kill those assholes for leaving us here." The dungeon was alive with pink veins that pulsed in time with the throbbing in her head. She didn't try very hard to control her hexes as her hands formed the familiar signs. _Sit. Rep._

"I'll help." He nodded then his hands were speeding through signs too. _Slade isn't here just a couple of Slade-bots but these are better versions, plus Psimon and Plasmus too. Giz, Mammoth, and X got to the rendezvous with Toph's team, Kyd was injured but got away and is laying low in the palace somewhere. I have your communicator and the other one but its circuitry is fried and yours is in pieces. The fire lord's kids aren't in here as far as I can tell. How's your head?_

 _I'll live. Its fine I can make it work between the two. But with the creepy former Trigon flunky here we will need a distraction._ Her Cheshire grin was in full force. "Grass stain how positively feral of you. When we find them, I will hold them down while you rip them to pieces."

"How do I know that you weren't in on this? Maybe I should start with you." He growled. _Are you sure you can do this? Last I heard you couldn't work a toaster without it blowing up._

She cackled as pink sparks arced along her body. "Brave words for a dumb little runt." _Very funny oh booger green one. Yes I'm sure. But I'm going to need at least three minutes. I'm going to make you land on that big guy in the far left corner, drop the communicators before you attack me._

He snarled before leaping on her. She rolled under him and rose to her feet, twisting around to lash out with her foot. Pink danced along it as her foot connected with his side. He flew across the cell and slammed into the guy in the corner. As soon as the first fireball was thrown she dived to the floor and with a little help from the wind, skidded along it to a dark corner of the cell. She curled into a ball to hide her hands.

Both of her hands moved quickly as pink flashed across them while she poured enough magic into both communicators to fuse them. Her fingertips flew across the screen and she had just hit sent before the communicator fell apart in her hands. She let out an exhausted sigh and stayed curled into a ball. She fell asleep a few moments later.

* * *

"Um, miss?" The voice was accompanied by a gentle poke to her shoulder.

She must have made some kind of noise or gesture as the voice started speaking, "Here's your share of the food and water."

"Give it to one of the kids." She waved them off and attempted to return to sleep.

"The boy you got into a fight with said you'd say that." The voice was amused and went away.

She was almost into the land of dreams when another person invaded her corner. Her head was still killing her and she'd used her hexes, magic, and bending in quick succession with little to no rest in between; she was tired and in no mood for twenty questions.

"Did you get the message out?" His voice was low and she barely heard it. The tension in her muscles loosened upon hearing his voice.

She murmured an equally as quiet, "Yes."

"This isn't over."

Everyone else in the cell flinched back at the sheer rage in his words and many cast worried glances at the strange pink haired woman as she generated more of those pink lighting bolts and flung them at him in response. They shivered as malice and the promise of pain filled the air. "Wanna bet?"

The Fire Nation citizens were even more wary of the two when the boy reeled back from the woman and stomped to the farthest corner of the cell, snarling at anyone who didn't immediately get out of his way.

* * *

**Fire Nation Capital, The Royal Palace; Early Morning/Day 47 (9 days earlier)  
**

* * *

Her muscles protested painfully as she once again spun in circles across the abandoned training grounds. The kata she was practicing also had cartwheels and front flips mixed into it. She landed lightly on her feet and glanced behind her to see the result, a wide almost maniacal grin split her face as she nodded in satisfaction at the sight. The red flames danced back and forth over the ground; the flames were molded into several different shapes, butterflies, fire lilies, koi fish, cravens, albatross falcons and a komodo rhino were a few of the shapes that she saw.

It had been frustrating and very difficult to learn these katas on her own but she kept practicing them in her spare time. She'd found the firebending forms in some old scrolls from nine years ago. Whoever wrote the scrolls was a very powerful bender and even encouraged the reader to do the forms without bending at first. She was kind of sad that the last scroll was incomplete as she was more than ready for more advanced kata from this master's style.

"Lil you're amazing. I wish I was that good."

She only jumped a little at his voice and her cheeks were only slightly pink at hearing his praise. "Come on Rook, you and I both know that you're way better than me."

He stared in open mouthed shock at hearing her brush off the rapidly dispersing flames. Sure he may have gotten a better handle on the basics when they started their lessons but Lil had quickly pulled ahead when they moved to more advanced stuff. She was frighteningly good at dragon's breath and she wasn't even a master yet. Though he could produce more consistent temperatures with his fire chi.

"Lil seriously. You have a way better grasp of the advanced stuff than I do and you already know two master level forms too. And what you just did...that was unbelievable. You'll have to teach me the style when our teacher says I've gotten better with the advanced forms."

 _He's really asking me? I can't teach him, I can't do anything right. At least that's what everyone says..._ "I'll try but when it doesn't work. Please don't be angry with me Rook."

"Lil you are my sister and I could never get angry at you about this. You heard what mom said, bending isn't everything. Though if you keep pilfering my dessert at dinner you and I are going to have problems." It took effort to keep his voice even. He wanted to hurt everyone who had affected his sister. Ever since they were little certain people would say hateful things to Lily and no matter how many times he asked their parents to tell him why, they never did; he could tell that his mom was lying, their dad was as clueless ever.

"Besides if you're that worried about it, we could always search for the master who created the scroll to clear up any questions that come up." The smile that she flashed him was brighter than the sun. Which is why he was wholly unprepared when she tackled him. "You're the best, Rook."

"Lil you wound me. I thought you already knew that?" He smirked at her as he disentangled himself from their hug.

The next impact he felt was his back hitting the dirt. Her lips were drawn back in a menacing scowl. "Say it."

"My humblest apologies," he fought back his mirth to little avail and a rueful chuckled escaped. "Fire lord Lily, she who rules the entire universe. I am but a lowly peasant before her."

"Shall we begin peasant."

"Yes fire lord Lily." And just like that the scowl vanished as if it had never existed.

An hour later found one of the two royal children gasping for breath, smelling heavily of smoke, and had smudges of black ash staining their clothes.

"That...was...brutal." He panted out between breaths. He waited for his breath to even out before continuing, "Agni Lil, how are you not exhausted?"

"I was taking it easy and I've had more practice with the beginner's forms." She said, sounding only slightly winded.

"Do you know who wrote the scrolls?" He asked after a moment, his curiosity had grown to unbearable levels during the hour of practice.

"I don't know." Lil's answer left much to be desired. Out of everyone, Lil knew how crazy an unsolved mystery made him. "And before you start your ceaseless questions. All any of the scrolls say is Dance of the Fire Spirits. I tried looking for any record of this new style's master but I couldn't find anything."

Before he could give voice to his thoughts violent tremors shook the training grounds, again and again and again. He barely managed to stay on his feet throughout the tremors. Lil fared much better by using a variation of different firebending forms to stay upright.

"Rook."

"Lil."

Unspoken communication passed between them and they took off. Their mother had drilled them relentlessly on memorizing the layout of the palace, to better escape any attackers that spotted them, and stressing the importance of getting away from the attackers first.

He followed his sister as she took turns seemingly at random. He realized that she was leading them further and further from the central part of the palace. "Lil, shouldn't we be trying to find mom and dad?"

"What is the one thing the mom stresses about our drills, above anything else?"

"She said if an attack happens and neither of them are with us head for the...oh." He fell silent and kept running, cursing himself for his tendency to forget import stuff in situations like these. He shook his head and focused on matching his sister's punishing pace.

After the longest ten minutes of his life, they finally reached the small airfield. And that's where they found trouble. Both of them stopped in their tracks as a giant creature appeared out of nowhere in front of them. The creature towered above them, sneering down at them like they were nothing but insects to be squashed beneath its feet.

It roared at them revealing razor sharp fangs hoping to scare them. This had the opposite affect, after all their dad took them to see the last two living dragons, as they dropped into their stances; this creature had nothing on the dragons. The giant creature charged the them, it was forced to veer to the left as several wickedly sharp stiletto knives scraped along it's side. "Get the fuck away from my children."

Blinding white hot pain surged through the creature's back when it tried to charge the children again. "Figures you'd be as dumb as you are hideous." She hissed at the creature. A feeling of unease settled at the bottom of her stomach. She had never come across a creature like this before...she would never admit it aloud but she wishes Azula was with her. Her friend would've turned the creature into a pile of ash by now.

 _Looks like I need to take a page out of Azula's book._ The fire lady's eyes narrow to slits as if she could make the creature disintegrate by glaring at it hard enough. The smell of burnt metal filled her nose long before the hissing reached her ears. Her eyes shifted to the creature's back, the sight that greeted her wasn't easy to accept or believe. A rivulet of liquid metal ran down the creature's purple-black hide. Before long, the gray liquid turned a sickly green.

The purple-black creature convulsed violently and then its entire form collapsed into a puddle of purple and green. Where ever the green landed a chorus of crackling sounded and the fire lady's suspicions were confirmed; the creature's very blood was acid. All the air in her lungs was forced out of her as Lily slammed into her. They both stumbled backwards narrowly avoiding a spray of green.

The purple-black puddle had vanished only to reappear behind the fire lady and Lily. Without a second of hesitation, Lily leapt to her feet loosing a stream of red flame from her mouth that hid the flickering form of Kuutak. The heat roiling off of the fire soldier drove the purple-black creature from them. "Rook get mom out of here now."

Both the fire lady and Rook protested but she cut across them. "Go!"

He tried to pull his mother away but she wouldn't budge. He did the only thing he could, summoned Daoru and flickered them closer to the airship. When they reappeared Daoru threw Rook to the left and the fire lady to the right as another purple creature sprayed acid over them. More acid followed and as Daoru rushed it, the fire lady was being dragged on to the airship. The last thing that Mai saw of her children were their guardian fire spirits fighting the purple creatures as an ocean of green acid ate away at all that it touched.

* * *

Hours later two small figures collapsed onto the unforgiving tiles beneath them. This secret room was one of the smallest out of them but also the hardest to find. It was after all supposed to protect the future Fire Lords from successful invasions like the one currently taking place. However the prince and princess never made it two the floor as two different sets of hand caught the children. "I don't believe it. I thought they'd been..."

"Easy Shong. We all thought they were gone." This seemed to placate the oldest of the servants who'd escaped the first assault. Lady Shong, whom had just replaced Tau as head servant, breathed a sigh of relief. "Grab whoever you need to and bring them here. Lil and Rook are not to be moved from this room. Make them comfortable. I'm going to scout out the dungeons and see if I can't figure out how to coordinate a plan to free them. Demons and beasts be damned I will not let them rot."

Mott nodded their assent and went about the task that Shong had set them.

* * *

**Throne Room/Day 56  
**

* * *

"I'm pleased at hearing about the capture of the green one and the leader of Team Black Magic. What is your progress with the resistance group within the palace?"

"We are still searching for the last group as we speak. But another group was flushed out during team Black Magic's failed assault."

"Excellent, proceed with phase two for the Earth Kingdom." General Immortus saluted the screen and left the throne room.

"Mr. Slade your task will be to find and crush the last of the Fire Nation rebels that remain within the palace." With that the screen went black. He wasn't surprised when the flexible woman's arms wrapped around his neck.

"Madam Rouge you're right on time." He chuckled as those arms tightened. "I expected nothing less. But I'm afraid that you have a very special assignment pending, if things are to go according to plan."

Madam Rouge went unusually rigid as his voice filled the air around them. A shiver traveled down her spine as he expanded on this assignment. "Take Plasmus to Kyoshi and make contact with our agent there. Keep the avatar and his friends busy. And do be sure to make the transition seamless. We wouldn't want you getting burned or worse, melted."

"And..." Another chuckle escaped at her impatience. That orange mask was as infuriating as it was striking, she'd never been so attracted to a man whose face she's never even seen.

Her throat went dry and her eyes wide as she lost sight of Slade. She both hated and loved when he did this. "...and prevent them from interfering with our plan. At least until the time is right."

"Then I want you to kill them all." The caressing whisper set her teeth on edge and it did the most tortuously delightful things to her.

"I'm insulted that you would even need to say this." Two could play this game and she was further pushed to the edge when she heard his sharp intake of breath. A sultry grin spread easily across her face at the scorching desire in his voice. "On second thought, I still have need of your extraordinary _flexibility_."

The battle she fought against the urge to press back into him was lost at his emphasis on flexibility. As soon as she was flush against his chest, she twisted around and attached her lips to his throat. Without breaking contact she shoved him back into one of the pillars and wrapped her legs around his hips. The growl was her only warning before his hands roughly started kneading supple flesh.

* * *

**The Secret Room/Day 56  
**

* * *

"Pink lightning, pink hair, and pink cat-like eyes?" Rau looked at Shong like she'd grown a second head. "I...No. I'll believe that when I see it."

Shong groaned and wanted to bang her head against the wall. "You've completely missed the point Rau. I saw her kick the green haired guy from one side of the holding cell to the other. They might be the only hope that we have of getting Lily and Roku out of the palace before the invaders find us."

"We don't need their help." He spat back without hesitation as soon as Shong had stopped talking.

"Yes we do," She sighed and massaged her temples with her hands. "you didn't see the airfield Rau. The level of destruction can only be caused by two things; a renegade spirit whose home or sanctuary has been disturbed or the Avatar. But that purple creature wasn't a spirit and definitely not the Avatar."

The weapon master fell silent but was reluctant to entertain this crazy plan that Shong was suggesting, that they willing hand the future of the Fire Nation off to a couple of strangers who seemed no better than the invaders.

"I also forgot to mention that the whole circus down there was a diversion for the pink haired woman to use a strange yellow thing to send for help."

It was his turn to sigh. "Okay. But I'm not convinced that entrusting Lily and Roku's lives to these strangers, who may or may not even agree to help, is the best idea."

"Rook, I find it insulting that they are speaking as if we are not even here. And are quite able to determine whats best for ourselves." Both adults head's whipped around and the color drained from the faces at the sight of the princess. Lily's back was ramrod straight, her hands clasped behind her back, and her eyes flashed dangerously. The prince was standing behind Lily and slightly to the left, his face as blank as his sister's. The sight sent shivers down their spines as it was reminiscent of Azula, all that was missing was armor.

"I vote we let the strangers help." Her voice was cool and her eyes kept the two adults pinned in place.

"I'm with Lil on that."

"Well Rau looks like you've been out voted."

He uttered something unintelligible under his breath, it sounded suspiciously like 'spoiled brats', as he glared at the three troublemakers that shared the room with him. "What's the plan?"

* * *

**Palace Dungeons/Day 56  
**

* * *

His jaw was throbbing painfully and his ribs protested every breath, he never wanted to be hit with a hex powered kick again; it wasn't a fun experience. But the pain was more than worth it when he got the confirmation from Jinx that the message went through. His smirk turned into a grimace as he shifted his left side further into the unforgiving stone wall.

The burns along his arm and leg were courtesy of the man Jinx had thrown him onto. A couple of other soldiers subdued the man before things could get too out of control. "Just keep that idiot away from me."

_'That man is a snake.' Gar did his best not to jump three feet into the air. It was rare to hear from the Beast these days.'We should kill it.'_

_'There's too many people around. I'll keep my distance.' Gar was relieved when the Beast simply growled approvingly at this and did not push for the kill._

" _Pist!_ "

He didn't so much as move as he registered the hey-over-here-i-need-too-talk-to-you-noise, however both of his ears quivered and he rotated his right ear toward the source of the noise. He hoped it wasn't him just imagining things.

" _Pist!_ "

His right ear twitched. He had to fight back his curiosity to find the source of the sound. " _If you can hear me, close your eyes and make your right ear twitch again._ "

He gratefully closed his eyes and twitched his ear again.

" _Listen carefully now. In two days time there will be a commotion to draw your jailers out of the dungeons. At that time we need you and that pink haired woman to break everyone out of the cell. Rendezvous in the dungeon's armory. General Shen will know the way._ "

The confusion must have show on his face as the voice tacked on, " _General Shen is the guy that you were thrown on top of four days ago. Be ready in two days._ "

Something sharp hit his forehead and he loosed a low growl. His eyes shot open and tracked the rock as it fell from his head. Right as the rock would've hit his arms, it crackled into dust via pink sparks. The dust settled into a question mark on his arm.

He slowly wiped the dust of his arm with two fingers. Then he shifted to a more comfortable position that unfortunately knocked over one of the people next to him. This caused his neighbor to jerk awake and his flailing limbs woke two others, the domino effect continued until everyone was awake. In the confusion that followed no one noticed as the pink haired woman wound up sharing a corner with the green haired guy.

"Is it Kyd?" Her tone was neutral but he could tell that Jinx was worried about her friend.

"No it was a woman but Kyd's tough and he trained with Rae." He said and was glad to see that Jinx had elbowed his arm, thanking him for trying to reassure her.

"After the diversion happens we need to drag the guy who burned me with us to the dungeon armory."

"Yay," His eyes nearly popped out of his head and when his attention was riveted on her. "We're going to have oodles of fun."

His grimace transformed into a scowl as he nodded, "Oodles."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah its not Tuesday. And I haven't had the time to work on this because Life happened. Moved in with my brother, who lives in another state, to watch my two year old niece.  
> Also I watched the 100 even though I knew what was going to happen. It was the best and worst thing that I have ever done. Since 307 I have been binge reading Clexa fics to cope with the shitstorm of Lexa's death. I can not stress how upset I am about this and I didn't even watch this unfold on screen like other Clexakru and I can't even image how much more I would have cried(I don't cry over tv shows very much so...) than I already did; even though I knew Lexa was going to be killed, I still fucking cried. I even teared up when I watched Yara Greyjoy and Daenerys fucking do the grounder handshake...it just took me right back to 307. Lexa deserved better and I will never forget or forgive the showrunners of the 100 for how badly they fucked up.
> 
> * * *
> 
> I added more to the chapter because the next would have been confusing as hell if I didn't. I'll try to get the next chapter up by Tuesday.


	20. Fight Back Your Demons

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender or Teen Titans. I own only the plots/ideas/situations that I have placed the characters in and my OCs.** _

* * *

**Titan's Tower; Raven's Room/Day 21  
**

* * *

The tension filled silence wasn't comfortable for either of them. Azula expected to feel less conflicted in light of Raven's admission but the emotions she'd experienced over the last two days became suffocating in their intensity.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos." Raven's voice was a whisper and those three words allowed Azula to breath easier as the emotions vanished and that's when she heard the skittering.

Her eyes broke away from the rapidly fading glow of the dragon to lock onto Raven. She blinked three times, once to check if what she was seeing was another hallucination, the second time when the giant black centipede began coiling around Raven, and the third time when her eyes turned red as another set appeared above the first.

The black centipede hissed loud enough to crack glass and more skittering was heard as its body writhed in agitation; it settled only when Raven started to stroke the section that was within easy reach. "Its as you said. 'As nice as these feelings are they complicate matters far too much and you don't deserve such a broken individual'."

"Then its a good thing you don't get to choose for me, Raven." Azula watched as the centipede swelled in size and coiled even tighter around the half-demon.

"In a week's time the bond will stabilize and until then neither of us can be sure of what we feel." As Raven spoke, more and more terrifying monsters came to life around her. Azula didn't like what she was hearing one bit.

"Will you be here for that week?" Deep down she knew what the answer would be.

_' I want to be.' Raven is unable to force the words out. She is unaware that Timid has fully transformed into Fear._

_**'We can be mistress. Don't be a cowar-' An avalanche of books fell on Rage.** _

_**'You very well know why we can't be here. So shut the fuck up!'** _

_**Rage swelled up to half her total size sending the books flying in all directions. As her eyes tracked the Worm, red lances of soul-self honed in on the yellow cloak. Only for a green dome to appear around Intelligence. There was a deafening crack as Courage's kick hit Rage's jaw. Rage stumbled back and in her disorientation couldn't block the yellow fist that hit her stomach. Her back crashed into the ground and as she struggled to draw breath, dark gray chains slithered around her downed frame. Rage went unnaturally still as the chains secured her to the ground.** _

_**The chains slowly came alive with blood red runes. Rage hissed and struggled against the chains but this increased the spread of the runes on them. At the same time dark gray runes came to life on Rage, Courage, and Intelligence.** _ _She had never seen a more violent merge between her emotions before._

"I can't." And at that, Raven and the monsters were gone.

Azula loosed a growl and flung the cloak off of her. She was across the room and out the door in seconds. She needed to set something on fire. It seemed as if her luck was improving as she crossed paths with the waterbender just out side of the door. She ignored the soft whirring as the door shut behind her.

"You," She didn't even relish in the waterbender's apprehension as she grabbed the woman's arm and started dragging her in the direction of the elevator. "and me are going outside to spar. You will not stop until I'm exhausted."

"Azula as your docto-"

"As my doctor you're supposed to do what's best for the health of your patient." She wasn't in the mood for the waterbender's worry. "And right now what's best for me is to burn off the excess energy in Raven's runes before my mind snaps again."

* * *

Her breath came out in harsh bursts as she leaned against the rocks that created a natural wall around the outside training area. The salt water stung her minor cuts as it ran down her back, chest, and arms. To her immense satisfaction Zen was flat on her back, also breathing heavy, and sported a number of minor burns. She wasn't even that angry that her flames were a normal color because she'd just consciously and successfully bent lighting for the first time since her fight with the Avatar.

The sound of clapping would have startled the two benders if they weren't too tired to react. "Friends that was awesome."

"I'm with Star. I would hate to get on your bad side Princess."

"Too late." She deadpanned.

"You should be a little more worried about mine." The waterbender's glare impressed Azula.

"Why is every one so mean to me?" His whining was music to her ears. "Anyways, what do you guys say to joining us for movie night?"

"Movie night?" Zen asked. Azula waited with baited breath for Cyborg's usual grumbling and teasing for not knowing what something was but it never came. Azula's eyes narrowed at that. _Looks like I have a waterbender to interrogate._ Unfortunately for the waterbender neither Cyborg or Starfire were very forthcoming with explanations, stating that it would be easier for Zen to see for herself.

Robin was already waiting for them with popcorn and enough sugary snacks to feed an army of children. When they were settled around the couch Robin waved toward the coffee table. "So how about we let Azula pick the movie?"

"Why can't Zen pick one?"

"Where's Friend Raven?"

Azula forced the tension from her muscles and hoped no one noticed. She thought she felt Robin's eyes on her but it was hard to tell with that mask over his face.

"She left so she could observe Azar's spiritual remembrance." The light hearted mood evaporated somewhat as the other two titans went silent at Robin's reply. A rush of images and emotions threatened to overwhelm Azula and she didn't want to dwell on Raven anymore today. So she randomly grabbed the first movie within reach and hoped the movie would help stave off another trip into the half-demon's memories.

"This one looks good." She said as she shoved it toward Robin and quickly slid to the other end of the couch. She was glad when no one attempted to drag her closer to the center.

"What are we watchin' Robbie."

Robin's eyebrow twitched in annoyance as he crossed the room to put the movie in. "Wicked Scary."

"Its too bad Rae isn't here. She'll be so bummed that we're watching her favorite movie without her." The three titans shared wry grins at that. All hope that Azula had at escaping the inevitable was lost as Raven's vivid memories came alive around her when the movie's opening credits played.

* * *

_**His laughter was obnoxious and she wanted to get on with it. "Just start the movie."** _

_**It was harder than she would admit to listen to how easily her friends could accept their fear. That wasn't a luxury she can afford and it was safer to pretend that nothing scared her than to tell her friends the truth.** _

_**"Come on Raven, you were totally scared." His teasing tone grated on her empathy, fragile as it was with her lack of decent meditation over the last six days; Azar's spiritual remembrance was almost over.** _

_**"I don't do fear." 'I live with it every day.' Is what she almost tacks on as she escapes to her room. It is the last time she'll use her powers that night.** _

_**Her sleep is uneasy. She relives the day she met her father and left Azarath. The fear and anger warring within her. The Fear had won when Rage held her aloft and those four blood red eyes tore through the flimsy barriers she'd built. And her fear took the shape of her namesake, the raven was massive, its wings spread wide, talons extended as it swooped down on her, and the last thing she saw were its four red eyes.** _

_**She bolted up right on her bed. As the lighting flashed and lit up her room, the shadows made by the various artifacts were creepier than normal. "Maybe I should re-decorate."** _

_**She shook off the last dregs of her nightmare and laid back down. A scream rent the air and momentarily drowned out the storm.** _

_**Beast Boy was taken first. Then Robin as he seemed to figure out what was happening. It was her idea to search the basement, that's where Starfire vanished and Cyborg soon after.** _

_**That's when her nightmare raven showed up, talons extended as it rounded the corner at the other end of the hall. She ran, despite never making it very far in her nightmares, knowing it was futile. She barely made it into the elevator in time, her hunter impacted the door and sent her flying into wall.** _

_**She let out a relived breath. Her relief was short-lived when the floor started churning and liquid fear filled the elevator, it swallowed her whole. The elevator reached the ground floor and she was free for a moment before the shadows disgorged Krath with his sickly green skin, shinning black teeth, and bright red eye.** _

_**She stumbled back toward the kitchen and the door way that led to the garage. The door way was alive with red eyed rats that spilled from the shadows. The writhing mass of rodents forced her to retreat. As she reached another door way more rats greeted her.** _

_**Hedged in on all sides by her worst nightmares she felt her back hit the glass windows. A surge of bottomless dread and the spread of inky black made her head turn involuntarily to glance at the window. Four red eyes shone through the sea of black. As she turned to face the window fully, the black bent inwards and two giant clawed arms took shape.** _

_**She backed away as the enormous rat dogged her steps."Stay back. You don't scare me."** _

_**The back of her legs hit the coffee table and she almost fell across it. She scrambled on top of it as the smaller rats raced forward. The enormous one hissed in concert with Krath. She fell to her knees and tried to make herself as small as possible, her hands did little to block out the noise. "I am not afraid, I am not afraid, I am not afraid."** _

_**The hissing was getting louder. She just wanted it to go away, she just wanted it to stop. There was only way for it too. "I am afraid."** _

_**It was both worse and better at the same time. She refused to be ruled by the fear. It was still there and she suspected that it always would be. She stood and turned to stare defiantly at her living breathing nightmare. "I'm afraid but that doesn't mean I can't fight back."** _

_**Her eyes turned black and it was her nightmare's turn to stumble back in fear. "Azarath Metrion Zinthos!"** _

_**One by one the nightmares were absorbed into her body and as her soul-self's separate pieces returned, it formed a giant crow. The crow circled her once before rushing through the ceiling to screech her defiance into the raging storm outside. She collapsed as sparks of her soul-self ran along her skin.** _

_**Her head was killing her when she woke up to her friends looking down at her with a mixture of relief and worry on their faces. She decided then that she had the best friends in the world and even if they would eventually hate her, she'd do anything to protect them.  
** _

* * *

At some point during the rush of memories she must have dozed off because she woke to Robin calling her name. "Azula?"

"Hmm." She kept her eyes closed and rolled away from him to go back to sleep.

"The movie's over. We're the unlucky souls who have to turn everything off."

She burrowed deeper into the couch cushions. "Have fun with that."

Her eyes were closed so she didn't see him shake his head in fond exasperation. His next words however drove any thoughts of drifting peacefully back to sleep out of her head. "Raven asked me to keep an eye on you for this week. And that includes making sure that you don't sleep on the couch, even though its very comfy."

"What else did she tell you?" She cursed herself for letting an edge of panic seep into her voice.

"She didn't have to tell me anything. The fact that she asked me to said everything." His pause ratcheted up the beating of her heart. "She asked me to help you because me and her have a bond too. But its no where near as strong as the one that you share with her."

She slowly sat up and re-arranged herself so that she could give him her full attention. She waved for him to take a seat on the couch. "I have a feeling this is going to be a lengthy conversation, might as well be as comfortable as possible."

He took the offer and once settled he continued, "When she explained about the bond and what it would mean, I wasn't too concerned about it. But then it started to solidify and I didn't react well to the echos. I went so far as to accuse her of manipulating my emotions.

She told me that she could make someone feel whatever she wants them too; hatred, fear, sadness, rage, confusion, pain, and love. After that she kept her distance from me so I could determine if what I felt was real or not, without her presence influencing me."

She was incised that he could be so stupid. She fought down the seething rage as she organized her thoughts. "My first true encounter with Raven was the best and worst day of my life. In the span of ten seconds she earned my trust. Everyday since she's shown me that it wasn't misplaced. I had thought that she was only helping me because my uncle told her to. That he and my brother sent her to torment me, that it was a cruel joke and I was waiting for it to be just another delusion. Instead she turned out to be the only thing that I can be sure of right now. Another monster who fears the devastation that they're capable of unleashing on others.

I know how to make people fear me. I know how to manipulate people. I should be angry about the bond, manipulation at its finest, but I'm not because I trust Raven not to hurt me. Our bond wasn't something she planned at all, it just happened through no fault of hers and I suspect that the bond wouldn't have happened at all if there was another way to protect me."

He flashed her a grin but there was a tinge of sadness to it. _I hope whatever this is that's going on between the two of you, works out._

"Come on Princess," He chuckled at her as he dodged the couch cushion that she threw. "I'll show you back to your room."

She followed after him deep in thought about how different her life was from how it had been for the last six years. She could only recall snatches of images and sounds, it frustrated her to no end that she couldn't remember more than that. It was like that even before her bond with Raven formed.

"Good night Azula." His voice jarred her back into reality. She acknowledged him with a nod. As he moved further down the hallway and eventually disappeared around the corner she turned to the door.

The name upon it read: Raven. She wasn't sure she wanted to stay in her room but in the end she curled up under neath the black and gold cloak on Raven's bed. That night Azula's dreams were plagued by a paper man and a black dragon that breathed green fire.

* * *

**Titan's Tower; the Training Room/Day 27  
**

* * *

Her days fell into a routine after Raven's disappearance. She meditated with Starfire in the morning before breakfast with the others, after that Robin usually asked her to spar with him, Zen supervised the sessions, and then Cyborg would pester her until she agreed to play video games with him; she'd play until she reduced him to a pathetic pile of metal and tears. Sometimes she played with Zen when the Titans were called away to help the city and on occasion the waterbender won.

There were some nights when the echos from Raven kept her awake. On those nights she'd go sit on the roof wrapped in Raven's cloak. Her chi was still too unbalanced for her to be able to regulate it consistently, so there were days when she wore the cloak around the tower. She was extremely grateful that no one mentioned it when she did.

It was during one of her spars with Robin, that she had just won, when the siren went off. But it was not the same as the others she'd heard. She was about to ask him about it when the siren cut off and Cyborg's voice came over the intercom. "Robin, bring Azula with you to the strategy room."

A feeling of dread settled in her stomach as she followed Robin. When they reached it Cyborg wasn't the only one there, Starfire and Zen were too. Cyborg was furiously typing away in front of a wall dotted with fifteen different screens. Each screen had images of a raging forest fire on them.

"Zen said that she could help the firefighters get the fire under control and that her odds would be better with Azula there too. One of the helicopters spotted Raven evacuating stranded hikers and the various campsites." Cyborg said as soon as he caught sight of them. As Robin opened his mouth to grill him about why they weren't already there helping Raven, Cyborg cut him off, "The Jump Institute and the meta prison were transferring inmates. The buses are missing-"

"Starfire with me. Cyborg get Zen and," He looked at Azula, asking a silent question. At her nod he continued issuing his orders, "Azula to the fire. Then coordinate with the J.C.P.D and their SWAT teams to set up a perimeter to catch any inmates that make it out of the blaze and past me and Starfire. Titan's go."

* * *

The smoke was thick in the air where Cyborg dropped them before racing off out of the heart of the inferno. As soon as they stepped out of the car they were swarmed by firefighters, "There's just two of you? You are Titans right? What can you do?"

"Yes, yes, and watch." Zen said as she stepped to the nearest cluster of trees. Her arms were already in motion as she exhaled a breath. Several of the firefighter's jaws dropped as ice formed on the trees and grass around Zen.

At the same time an ominous chorus of crackling wood signaled the fall of several trees. The firefighters were scrambling backwards but many of them were already resigned to their fate until they felt the temperature get even hotter. Blue flames had engulfed the falling trees and turned them into ash. The unbearable heat steadily began to drop afterwards and the firefighters watched as all around them the flames grew smaller and smaller by the second. As the flames grew smaller, ice quickly spread across the ground and vegetation.

"Are you peasants just going to stand around and watch us do all the work?" The firefighters snapped out of their amazement and moved to assist the two benders immediately upon hearing the authority in her voice.

Before long she could barely control the raw amount of chi that she was absorbing but just as she was starting to lose her grip on it, it was leeched away and the runes on her arm started to appear. But instead of their usual red, they were electric blue. The next time she was forced to use her bending to incinerate falling trees the strain wasn't as bad as the first time. She didn't have time to think more on it as the flames on the trees near the firefighters assisting her, flared outward sending them flying.

Her eyes narrowed as she diverted the tongue of flame that followed after them. She hadn't wanted to say anything about her growing suspicions to Zen nor did she want to ask but she had no choice now. "Zen," The waterbender made to go to her but she waved her back, "Where was my father sent?"

Her only warning was Zen's eyes going wide before she felt something ram into her side, sending her tumbling to the ground. As she rolled across the ground fire rained down on her. She rolled a little further before springing up and spinning round to generate a vortex of flame to dissipate the fireballs still being launched at her.

"Daddy's right here Princess. And you are going to do as I say and kill those worthless friends of yours."

"Like hell, Dad." She growled and tamped down on the surge of unpleasant emotions and memories that threatened to rise up at his words. She glanced toward Zen and the firefighters. "What are you peasants doing? The fires aren't going to put themselves out."

She mentally patted herself on the back for succeeding in keeping the apprehension and fear out of her voice. As she re-focused on her father she sent a volley of fire balls at him and rushed in. Each step closer to him brought flashes of that Agni Kai they fought to the front of her mind. She shook her head clear as she slashed at him with a fire dagger blazing in her hand.

He parried with one of his own but was unprepared for the knee that slammed into his abdomen. Fire spilled into the sky as her uppercut wrenched his head back. She spun to his left, smashing her elbow down on the back of his neck. He collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut.

She stood, panting heavily, over his prone form.

* * *

_**She had never felt more alive as she watched the fire cyclone take shape in the air in front of her. She hadn't thought it possible to recreate it in an actual fight. She was both relieved and terrified of what would happen to her now. Her body was awash in fear as she closed the distance. It was the first that she had ever felt like herself in his presence. "I-I-I y-yield."** _

_**It took little effort to form the fire dagger as she stopped before his kneeling frame. Her arm was steady as she spoke, "And?"** _

_**His laughter rang in her ears. It startled her badly enough that the dagger of flame dissipated into nothing as the laughter echoed around the throne room. His laughter slowly subsided and eventually faded, the smile on his face made her knees shake. "I am so proud of you for wanting to take their heads off yourself. I'll have the circus freak and Zuko's lovesick bride brought to the capital immediately."** _

_**"We should make it a grand ceremony in front of the nobility and the commoners." All the color drained form her face as another her stepped from the shadows to draw level with her father. She held out a hand to help him from the floor, all trace of his previous vulnerability gone.** _

_**"What a splendid idea Princess." Darkness encroached on her vision for a moment before another, far more sickening scene replaced it.** _

_**A roar deafened her as she stood on a stage in the central courtyard in front of the palace. To her immediate right were two kneeling prisoners with hoods covering their faces. "Citizens of Caldera city!" Another roar filled her ears and she basked in it for a moment. Once it had died down a bit. "Today we are here to witness the execution of two traitors, traitors that were once my most trusted subordinates."** _

_**She motioned for the hoods to be removed, the crowd's reaction was a clamor of boos and jeering, some enterprising citizens even threw rotting vegetables at the pair.** _

_**"And I will be their executioner."** _

_**The commander of the imperial guard stepped forward and presented her with the ceremonial katana. She firmly grasped the blade's hilt and with zero hesitation removed the traitors heads. She then collected their heads and presented them to her father as the crowd roared their approval. To her further horror she felt the elation shimmering under her skin as her signature smirk formed fully on her face. "Trust is for fools. I will never doubt you again father."** _

_**'Sifu snap out of it. That's not what happened. This isn't what happened. We beat that bastard into the ground. Our friends are alive and safe. We didn't...we didn't...we did that...' She fell into the familiar all consuming rage. A spike of agony dragged her back to reality.** _

There was fire all around her as well as his laughter. With every passing second her rage boiled her blood only for a soothing emptiness to push back against the heat. Flashes of light filled her rapidly blackening vision. The emptiness had won. The lance of cold light arced through the air and shattered the blackness, striking the one controlling it.

"Azarath," The thrumming rage in her blood slowed to a sluggish crawl. "Metrion," The tightness in her chest loosened. "Zinthos." The sight of Raven standing before her with a hand on her right arm, over the angry red runes, was what greeted her when the flood of emotions abruptly cut off. "This is my fault."

Gold met violet as they shifted to white. Azula emerged from the shadows ten feet away from Raven. She watched in slow motion as the lighting bolt hit the half-demon's back. Her world narrowed to the half-demon and as she rushed forward to catch Raven before she hit the ground, she didn't spare a glance for the retreating form of her father.

* * *

**Titan's Tower; 3:00 a.m. Tower Infirmary/Day 30  
**

* * *

"I figured that you'd still be here." He sounded as tired as she felt.

Her eyes remained focused on the book in her lap as she waited for him to either, enter the room or leave. She didn't have to wait long before he plopped down into the chair next to hers. "It isn't like I have anywhere else to be."

"Touche." He nodded and fell silent. His silence was short lived, "But you have been in here all day."

"And that's a problem?" She asked as she closed the book and set it on the table by the bed.

"No but when Raven wakes up and learns that we didn't look after you properly, it becomes one." His answer is met with a wide grin.

"What's she going to do, toss you out of a window?" She was highly amused by the thought. Robin thought so as well when she heard him chuckle, when his laughter stopped. "Its happened before."

"Well considering that I have taken breaks for food and have managed several naps throughout the day. I don't think she'll be forced to such extremes." His answering grin was small. Silence once more descended.

She was grateful that he seemed content to not break it this time. Her gratitude also extended to his attempt at distracting her from what happened three days ago with her father and Raven. It'd been shortly after Raven had collapsed that she realized their bond had settled, the rage, fear, self-loathing, and pain was gone; Raven's emotions were gone. Azula's thoughts and feelings were different than before.

She wasn't sure that she had not not killed her friends. That she had enthusiastically chopped their heads off. Presented them to her father and basked in his approval. That memory had been too vivid, too real for it to not be what happened. But then another memory with a different outcome would flood her mind. Both memories terrified her. She couldn't shake the image of holding her friends' heads by their hair, blood slowly dripping from the jutting bone to pool at her feet.

The only measures of comfort that she had was the black and gold cloak, and that her father had been caught by Cyborg. She was relieved that she wouldn't have had to help the titans hunt her father down.

"Here," She heard a rustle and then her vision was obscured by a communicator, it was black and had thin lines of white spreading across the entire surface. An azure capitol A was on the front of it. Tentatively she took it from him. "You are now officially an honorary titan. You tried to warn us when you lost control of your bending, you fought to protect Zen and Raven from your father and Slade, and you helped save a lot of people the night of the fire."

"But I'm not a good guy." She whispered even as her grip on the device tightened.

"Many of the good guys would argue that Raven isn't one either but like her, you will always have a place among the Titans. Good night." He said.

She didn't notice the silent tears until she felt a box of tissues gently bump into the side of her head, she glanced at it and it was covered in shadows. Her heart rate skyrocketed as she avoided looking in the half-demon's direction. When she had the courage to look, her panic faded as soon as she saw that Raven was still asleep. She ignored the tissues in favor of using her hand to wipe the moisture away as Raven's eyes opened slowly.

"The memory wasn't real. You didn't kill them." Raven's voice had no inflection and was so quiet.

"It felt like it. How could it not be?" She tried to keep her emotions under control, knowing how they'd affect the half-demon but it was impossible.

"That's what the pit does to anyone caught in it. You encountered Ozai during a memory flare as our bond settled. The runes on your arm were affected by the flare he was experiencing and made your worst fear play out. The real outcome of your Agni Kai with him changed. And now the two memories are interwoven making it hard for you to tell which one is real." A shadow from the ceiling fell over the half-demon. It was the giant black centipede.

"You're the best and worse thing that's ever happened to me." She waited until the same monsters had taken form from the shadows around Raven before she created the fire spirit. The spirit was the first that she'd ever created with her blue flames; it was Sokon. She flitted about the shadowy monsters before settling on the half-demon's lap. "The best because you've done nothing but help and protect me, which is more than I can say for my family. The worst because I trusted you.

"Y-you did?" At the quivering breathlessness of Raven's question, the fire spirit went from red to blue.

"I did," The air in the infirmary grew colder the longer her silence stretched on. "even before the bond was formed."

_**"And do you trust me now?"** _

"Yes." She spoke without hesitation.

_**"Even like this."** _

She didn't respond right away, at least not with words. With a wave of her hand her fire spirit vanished. She was keenly aware of Raven's eyes on her as she stood up, placed her T-comm on top of the book on the table, and moved toward the bed. The half-demon moved to the far side of it to accommodate Azula. As she settled on the mattress and before the half-demon could react, Azula pulled the unresisting Raven into her side, she didn't speak until the half-demon's head was tucked underneath her chin. "You're the empath, you tell me."

Slowly, ever so slowly, she felt the half-demon relax into her. "Are you sure about this?"

"Are you?" She shot back and pulled Raven impossibly closer. "Now shut up and sleep, Sokon."

Before either of them could drift off to sleep, two balls of fire appeared inside the infirmary. A brilliant flash of light forced a growl out of Raven and as her eyes opened they were pure white. Two sentient fire soldiers stood to either side of the bed, one was orange and the other was black. As the soldiers reached for them, Raven was hit with a sense of familiarity. The same could not be said for Azula as a fire dagger formed in her hand.

"Wait." The instant that Azula's attention was on the half-demon, the soldiers grasped each woman by the arms and began to flicker like a dying fire. The soldiers vanished just as the door to the infirmary opened.

Cyborg stuck his head into the room and upon seeing the empty bed he grumbled, "The least Rae could've done was switch off the heart monitor before escaping."

He lazily crossed the room and did just that before trudging back out of the infirmary. It wasn't until he was back in his room that he realized that it was his turn to make breakfast. With a mighty sigh he made his way to the kitchen to start cooking.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **  
>  **   
>  _Important notes: Chapter title comes from the song Demons by Icon For Hire. Krath is the name I randomly gave the monster from Wicked Scary in the episode 'Fear Itself'. Do you folks have any idea how hard it is to come up with a nickname for Raven that doesn't involve some iteration of 'shadows' or 'darkness'? Its not fun let me tell you._   
> 


	21. Travel Plans

* * *

  _ **I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender or Teen Titans. I own only the plots/ideas/situations that I have placed the characters in and my OCs**_

* * *

  **The Fire Nation, Caldera City; Royal Palace/Day 58**

* * *

He was just bringing a fresh cup of tea to his lips when he heard a muffled thump in the other room. Wistfully he set his cup down and cautiously peered through the doorway. As soon as he saw the body sprawled over the shattered remains of his pai sho table, he rushed to check if the person was alive.

His mind filled with memories of his first encounter with Raven as he bent down to lift the unconscious, and strangely dressed, man off the ground. He carried the man a short distance and lay him down on his couch. He did a precursory inspection for injuries and frowned at the severe burns along the man's arms and chest, those kind of burns only happened with lightning bending. _At least he's not glowing._

The man was lucky that he'd crashed into his sitting room as the tea guru had plenty of salve for lightning burns; he'd stocked up on it, knowing that his niece wouldn't rest until she could bend lighting again. He couldn't bend lightning after Lu Ten's passing and felt deep in his bones that, his niece would have trouble getting to a balanced state to bend lightning. _If she's anything like me, the journey back will be painful._

Before his melancholy thoughts could further distract him from the task at hand, the man shifted further into the cushions and a part of the cloak he wore fluttered to the floor. His eyes registered the movement and when his focus shifted to the cloth, he spotted the black and purple communicator on the man's belt. The moment he saw it, he breathed a little easier as it meant that whoever the man was, he might be a friend of Raven's.

* * *

It had been a couple of hours since his visitor had crashed into his pai sho table and there was still no sign that the man would wake. The tea guru had already treated the man's wounds, repaired his cloak using dark gray thread, and drank a pot of tea. He was reluctant to leave the man until he could be sure of his affiliation with Raven or lack there of.

He'd just decided that more tea was a good idea when the man shot bolt up-right and started frantically scanning the room. The instant that the man's crimson red eyes fell on the tea guru, he vanished. The tea guru spun around and held a fire dagger to the man's throat. “My name is Iroh and I'm not an enemy.”

The man stared into Iroh's eyes for an eternity but still refused to back down. He took a chance and back away as he extinguished the dagger. He easily read the confusion on the man's face. Then he took an even bigger risk. “I'm a friend of Raven's. She gave me a T-comm.”

Those intense red eyes narrowed to slits and then the man held up the communicator. The man gestured at the communicator and back to himself before gesturing to Iroh. The man wanted to see his.

“I don't have it-” He dove to the side to avoid a front kick from the man. He was then forced to make a fire dagger and slash at the man's hand as it clamped down on his arm. The man let go and spun around his outstretched arm to kick him in his side. “She the half-demon spawn of Trigon.”

The instant he managed to spit the words out, the man jumped out of range of his fire dagger and started typing something into the communicator. A few minutes later and he heard a voice start speaking, “First of all, my teammate X took it upon them self to provide a voice for situations like this; I'm mute and get along fine but they were right that I'd need a way to communicate, if I'm the only one who got away. Secondly I apologize for attacking you but the Brotherhood is here and I was cut off from my team, so I can't trust anyone. Thirdly Raven wouldn't tell just anyone about her origins and that, is why I will trust that you don't mean me any harm other than when you were defending yourself. And lastly thank you for treating my wounds, Iroh. My name is Kyd Wykkyd, call me Kyd.”

“Kyd-” The sound of splintering wood and heavy footsteps cut him off. Without a second of hesitation he spat bright orange-red flame in the same direction that he heard the heavy footsteps, grabbed his tentative ally's arm, and dragged him into a secret passage that lead to a warren of tunnels; the very same tunnels that he'd had built in the eventuality of his nephew's threat of imprisonment becoming a reality. “ordinarily I wouldn't ask this of someone with valid reasons to be distrustful of my intentions...but I need you to trust me or neither of us are getting out of here alive.”

“I will but on one condition,” He wasn't as unnerved as most would be when Kyd's glowing red eyes landed on him as they moved through the passage as if they were being chased by demons. “I refuse to leave Jinx and Gar to the tender mercies of the Brotherhood.”

“And I wouldn't ask you too. There are still so many trapped in the palace, including the families of the servants and military personnel.” The two kept running down the passage as the sounds of crackling wood grew louder and louder behind them. _If I knew where you were, brother, I'd ring your neck for isolating me from the central palace._

* * *

**The Throne Room/Day 60**

* * *

Her initial reaction to the sentient fire beings as they appeared in the infirmary was irritation that quickly grew into full blown rage. _**'I am going to kill whatever demon-ling or imp that dares try to attack us.'** And for once, with exception of Affection, they all willingly began to merge with Red._

_'They aren't demons...' A giant black hand of soul-self passed through Rage and forcibly removed their mistress and the other emotes from Red's soul-self. 'Their energy reads the same as Lily and Rook.'_

“Wait.” The moment Azula's eye landed on her, the sentient fire beings had closed the distance and the infirmary melted around them.

The next seven and a half minutes were the most pleasant, as much as inter-dimensional travel methods can be, of her life. It was just so warm and when the Fire Nation royal palace flickered into focus around them, she instantly began to miss the all encompassing warmth as it had kept the unrelenting cold of her soul-self at bay.

Despite her momentary distraction at the unexpected journey, as soon as they were tangible her soul-self deflected the deluge of acid that was aimed directly at them. As a result the acid splattered across the dozens of metal soldiers that were swarming Lily and Rook on the far side of the room.

As the first wave of soldiers began to melt, she saw the scorpion segment of Plasmus leap from a pool of acid that was near the kids. She willed the scorpion's shadow into her nightmare raven. A hiss shattered the air as the massive raven's talons pierced the scorpion's exoskeleton and with a terrifying screech the raven dove, still clutching the thrashing insect, toward the other pieces of Plasmus.

At the last second the raven released its cargo and slammed into the giant crab, talons extended as the purple skin devoured it. Moments later and the crab exploded in a spray of purple and green. The raven emerged, clutching Plasmus's sleeping host, and screamed its defiance before vanishing into the shadows.

She heard the whistle as the metal soldier brought its arm down but her muscles spasm with residual electricity and she braces for the hit. Then her ears pick up the crackle of Azula's chi. The metal soldier is flung back as the lightning bolt fries its circuitry.

“Lil, I though you said that they would only bring Raven. Who is she?” His question caused Azula's emotions to fluctuate and the shadows started to writhe.

“They should have but obviously she was with Raven when they grabbed her and she came along for the ride.” Her rapid fire response and scolding tone, had Azula descending rapidly into full blown panic. Her soul-self was starting to from shapes and outlines.

“Firecracker,” Her voice was a mere whisper as she placed her hand on Azula's right arm. “He is not here.”

Azula's emotions were beginning to suffocate her with their intensity. She did the only thing she could, “Azarath Metrion Zinthos.”

“Is she going to be okay...?” Lily trailed off as she saw a sphere of solid black surround the master firebender and then watched as the sphere slowly faded away; the master firebender was gone. “...uh what did you do?”

“Not for a long time and I sent her to a safe place.” She closed her eyes for a moment before opening them to pin both Lily and Rook in place, “I'm assuming that you two summoned me for a reason?”

“The palace was invaded about two weeks ago by that nasty purple thing and those metal soldiers Lil and me got separated from mom and we had to fight our way out then we made it to the servant passages and helped plan the escape but then Uncle Iroh and this cool guy with red eyes appeared and we had to change our plans but then we got separated and that nasty purple thing that spits acid attacked us and Lil and I both agreed to send our fire guardians to get Iroh and the red eyed guy but they were stopped by this other guy whose brain glows purple so then we sent our guardians to find you. ” He said in one breath that, had Raven not been exposed to the same with the Tots, would have confused anyone else.

“I see.” She gestured for both of them to grab a hold of her cloak. “Ezta Nq Tarem Zi Guthe Mox Merat Qn Atze.”

Lily and Rook watched in awe as two fire spirits appeared in front of Raven, and then started to twist and contort until they resembled Lily and Rook.

“Whoa.” They chorus together.

“ _Whoa._ ” Raven's fire spirits mimicked back.

At this Lily and Rook looked up at Raven. “Lily, Rook, I want you to tell my fire shades to do whatever your parents have repeatedly told you to never do. We need to keep these invaders distracted.”

All four children eagerly nodded.

* * *

**Palace Dungeons/Day 60**

* * *

_They're late._ Her thoughts were the same as the surly general's, who had not stopped pacing since they'd arrived at the armory. He was just completing his fifth circuit of the armory when Rau, captain of the guard, hissed, “We never should have trusted that creature.”

Unfortunately for the captain Jinx heard him and the only member of her team that was often seen or mistaken as a creature was Kyd. Her eyes narrowed at Rau as he continued to mutter under his breath. “He had obviously coerced general Iroh. He was probably in on the whole operation to destabilize the Fire Nation with the other woman that controlled the shadows.”

Just as she was about to give Rau a string of bad luck, the captain rounded on her, getting dangerously close. “I thought you called for help. Where in Agni is it?”

Before she had a chance to unleash her hexes on the captain a giant shadow fell across the captain. There was a low growl and she watched as the captain's face drained of all color. At the same time her Cheshire grin spread across her face.

“We are not the enemy captain, but if you continue to doubt us, and insult my friends, we will be. And,” She let the building energy of her hexes concentrate around her. Small arcs of pink sparks leapt off her clothes as her eyes glowed brightly. “you don't want to bet against me or mine.”

Gar's Beast form growled again to emphasize her point. The captain involuntarily stumbled even further back from the two monsters in front of him. She matched him step for step. “Oh no I am far from done captain. Eleven days ago your fire lord's zeppelin crashed landed in Kyoshi bay and after the water logged survivors got their bearings, Zuko and Mai practically begged us to come back and rescue their kids; not you or the other civilians. I asked my team and they decided that we would rescue anyone still trapped here but our priority mission is the crowned princess and prince. And do you want to know who the most enthusiastic member of my team was for saving you?”

“The one I just insulted.”

She nodded, “His name is Kyd Wykkyd and he's the only reason our escape plan hasn't been discovered by Psimon or the Slade Bot yet.”

At that an errant hex bolt leapt from the finger she had pressed to his chest. A loud crack echoed throughout the room and in the ensuing silence, everyone heard Rau's whimper.

“You always were an ungrateful bastard Rau,” Shong bravely stepped up to stand next to the hulking creature with sleek black fur and piercing green eyes. “You've more than earned that broken rib as you seem to have forgotten what's at stake. This Nation's very future rides on getting Lily and Roku out of the palace.”

Rau stayed silent and looked away from Shong's judgmental stare. Then Shong addressed her and Gar, “I apologize for this idiot. He never did learn when to keep his mouth shut. Its probably why Princess Azula liked to make him dodge lightning.”

“Not to mention extremely impatient.” Everyone in the armory, except Gar, jumped at the sound of her voice; half the armory heard the pure malice that only Azula was capable of, and the other half heard the flatness of the fire lady, in essence her voice was terrifying. But to the hex caster and Gar it was reassuring to hear.

“Rae, I take it you're done cleaning house?” Her smile was so wide it hurt as Raven rolled her eyes.

“There's been a change of plans. I'm taking the injured directly to Kyoshi while Iroh and Kyd keep General Immortus's soldiers occupied. Gar, Jinx you'll stay here to help the imperial soldiers get the civilians out of the palace. Then Kyd will transport you, Shen, Rau, and Iroh to Kyoshi. Commander Zun,” Raven gestured to the commander and watched as the woman hesitantly reach for the sealed scroll floating in front of her, “general Iroh's orders for the army.”

Jinx, Gar, and Commander Zun nodded in acceptance but Shen was just about to open his mouth when Raven's eyes snapped to him. He saw a flash of black on the edge of his vision and his attention shifted to it, he saw nothing. When his eyes flicked back to Raven, she was gone along with the injured.

* * *

**The Throne Room/Day 60; Two hours earlier...**

* * *

_'Plasmus has been successfully handed off to Robin and Starfire.' She sensed Intelligence's hesitation. 'Azula isn't doing well. The memory flare is still affecting her. Courage is helping her through the panic attack.'_

_'Good. Tell Courage to stay with her. I have a few things to do before I can get Azula somewhere less triggering.'_

Just as her awareness of the throne room returned she saw her fire demons vanish as Lily and Rook focused their attention on her. “Alright you two, I'm going to need you to send your fire guardians to hunt down a thief.”

“We require something that belonged to whoever it was.” Lily said, after all they were still in a precarious situation and it wouldn't do to let their guard down.

A piece of paper floated in the air between her and Lily, a giant purple rune covered one side of the paper. “Its his energy signature.”

“This will work but you have to turn around and can't look.” Rook stared un-waveringly into her violet orbs until she did as he ordered. She was impressed with how well they knew what their fire guardians could and could not do.

_'Though their fire guardians are certainly not normal at least for benders.' Her curiosity had been peeked after hearing Lily and Rook recount how Kuutak, Rook's fire guardian, hounded Lily's kidnappers. Initially Kuutak's energy surges had been what spurned her into action._

_'It's almost as if their fire guardians were an ability that's being warped by their firebending and it created something else entirely. But how could-' There were rare moments when she was fond of her emotes, it was different with each one. She felt truly connected to Intelligence when the yellow clad emote got hit with an epiphany and either started rambling too fast for her to follow or went unnaturally quiet; even for Intelligence._

_**'There is no fucking way that it could be possible.' The bookshelves trembled as dark red runes spread along the spines of each book. 'How could I have been such an idiot to not see it, it was right there in front of me!'** _

_**A deafening rumble echoed throughout Intelligence's library. Raven had never seen Intelligence this worked up before and cautiously approached her, 'Maybe it will help to explain what's got you upset?'** _

_Her question was like the air being let out of a balloon as the weight of Intelligence's rage drained out of the emote. The emote looked worn and as tired as her mistress felt._

_'I need to review every encounter with them before I can present my findings to you.' She watched in shock as Intelligence turned her back and began searching through their memories. 'Please excuse me, mistress, but I have a lot of research and comparing to do.'_

_She was completely wrong-footed as she tried and failed to wrap her head around the fact that Intelligence had just dismissed her. So much so that it took her a moment to realize that Lily and Rook had been trying to get her attention._

“Hmm...” She shook her head and focused on the task at hand.

“Where did you go? It was like you weren't here or something.” He sounded as confused as she felt.

“Its complicated but I was just thinking about getting you two back to your parents.” She said and was happy to feel Lily's confusion rise in conjunction with her brother's.

“Take a deep breath you two,” They did as she instructed and as her soul-self spread beneath the three of them, “also you'll want to keep yourselves warm with your fire chi. This is going to be cold.”

* * *

**Kyoshi Island; Fire Nation Refugee Camp/Day 60**

* * *

“Zuko,” He completed his circuit of the big tent where they held meetings and did not acknowledge her. “Zuko we can't send anyone else to the palace. There's no one left to send.”

Her voice stopped him dead in his tracks. He couldn't believe that she was bringing that up, as if he didn't already know how thoughtless he'd been. There was something off about Raven and he would not apologize for the actions he took when Raven fell under suspicion for Obsidian and the Boiling Rock.

“What was I suppose to do? The evidence pointed to her direct involvement with the attack on Obsidian. Then my father escapes from prison. Those incidents coupled with what we know of Raven's abilities...it all seemed to fit.” He was too tired to yell but his voice bled frustration and helplessness in equal measure.

“Your actions could have turned her into an enemy or worse, she could have sworn to destroy the Fire Nation. But I doubt that she would.” She sighed and walked forward to pull him into her arms. “I love you in all your idiotic glory. But from the moment Raven flew into that court yard all you've let yourself see of Raven is how much she reminds you of Azula. Raven is not your sister, Zuko. Raven, if she'd been in the Fire Nation would have come to our aid.”

“You're right. But that begs the question, where was she for the attack? Maybe she knew about it...” He yelped when Mai's hand smacked the back of his head and as Mai pulled away, he missed her warmth.

“Or maybe she prioritized Azula's treatment over the Fire Nation and its ruler, whom already rejected her offer of help once.” Both Mai and Zuko spun around to face Raven. But neither Mai or Zuko paid much attention to the half-demon as they caught sight of Lily and Rook standing to either side of Raven.

The two children flew at their parents as soon as they spotted them. The reunited family did not even blink as Raven sunk into a pool of soul-self, leaving them to their reunion.

* * *

“Again!” Suki watched as half of her warriors danced around the dojo as they practiced with their bladed fans. The newest crop of warriors were improving quickly. A moment later she scowled as Ito and Vie dropped their fans and didn't move to retrieve them straight away. As she was about to yell at them, she noticed that they were looking at something behind her. When she glanced back and spotted Raven rising from the ground her scowl deepened. “Ito, Vie, you two are assigned morning patrol for three months. Warriors never get distracted on the battlefield, distractions lead to mistakes and mistakes lead to fatalities.”

Immense pride swelled in her as the two youngest recruits didn't try to make excuses about their inattention or their punishment as they scooped up their fans and went right back to practice. It was only after she singled for Dai to take over that she turned to face the dragon lady. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Ty enter the main area and head directly for them.

As Ty came to a stop by her side, Raven spoke, “There's something I need to discuss with you and Ty Lee. Somewhere that the Fire Nation refugees won't stumble upon accidentally?”

Suki shared a look with Ty and nodded at the acrobat a second later. “I know a place. Do you need me to describe it or..?”

“No just imagine the area and I will do the rest.” Raven's voice gave nothing away as blackness swept her and Ty from the dojo.

* * *

The half-demon deposited her passengers on the shore of a lake. The water was crystal clear and the surface was placid. It was very calming, it was perfect for what Azula needed after the royal palace.

“I don't have much time so I'll get straight to the point. Azula is with me and the last thing she needs is to be around Zuko and the refugees.” She kept her eyes on the lake's surface as Suki and Ty Lee processed her words.

“Azula's with you...where?” Suki's open and honest curiosity while expected was still a novelty to her.

“I'm half-demon and my mind is a separate dimension all on its own. Azula is currently there, its where she feels safe.” Her words are a whisper and she hopes that neither Suki or Ty Lee pick up on the slight hesitance in her tone. She isn't surprised when Ty Lee's trepidation makes itself known, her soul-self appears in the air as black dots that whirl around the three of them.

“What happened? Is Zula okay?” As she's about to assure the acrobat, Suki beats her to the punch. “I'm sure that Raven wouldn't let anything happen to Azula.”

“Something unexpected and the suddenness of it had a negative affect on Azula. Physically she is fine but emotionally...”

“So you want me to let Azula stay here?” Suki's anger was a heavy bottomless pit that threatened to swallow the half-demon whole.

“I will be her guard. Suki, I know how much the very though of her being here makes you angry. But I'm willing to bet that if you insist on it, she'll let Ty Lee chi block her.” The weight of Suki's anger lessened as her words reached the warrior. Though the dots zipped around the three of them even faster as Ty Lee started pacing on her hands. Suki took one look at Ty and said, “That won't be necessary. So long as she doesn't wander out of this valley, she can stay here.”

“I'm going to head back and get some supplies for you two.” Without another word Suki turned to leave but stopped when Ty grabbed her arm. Two watery gray eyes pleaded with her to stay. “We can do that later then.”

“U-um how long will it take for you to get Zula out of your head?” The acrobat barely got the words out before she heard Raven chuckle. And when she looked up saw a warm smile directed at her, it was breath taking.

“You know, I have a friend a lot like you Ty Lee. I'm glad that Azula had you in her life, you were just what she needed.”

Suki and Ty Lee watched as Raven hovered in the air and as she assumed the lotus position, “Azarath Metrion Zinthos.”

Then a sphere of her soul-self formed in the air and faded to reveal Azula standing next to Raven. Azula blinked and her gold eyes fell on Ty Lee first then slid to Suki before flicking to Raven.

“I-”

“Zula I'm so sorry.” The acrobat could feel the tears welling. She was struggling to not rush to the princess and engulf her in a hug.

“I'm not angry with you, its an impossible task.” The firebender's eyes narrowed at Suki as the leader of the Kyoshi warriors had made a particular noise.

“Suki,” There was amusement in those gold eyes as Suki gasped upon hearing Azula speak her name. “Yes I know your name.” Suki watched in confused shock as Azula dropped to her knees and sat on her heels as she placed both hands flat on her lap before bowing to the warrior. “Please accept my humblest apologies for disrespecting Avatar Kyoshi name and her legacy; the Kyoshi warriors. My actions while disguised as a Kyoshi warrior were necessary to avoid bloodshed but never the less are still inexcusable.”

“You can't be all that bad if Ty Lee could put up with you for that long.” Suki's retort was scathing but the fondness for the acrobat took the edge off of her words. “You're not forgiven but that apology is a good start.”

Azula had barely climbed to her feet before Ty Lee rushed her and both of them fell to the ground. “I missed you so much.”

“I missed your hugs.” Azula whispered, after a moment she added, “Suki had better be treating you well or...”

Ty Lee started giggling at that as she climbed off of Azula and pulled her up off the ground. The firebender had missed the acrobat and wasn't angry about Ty Lee's actions on the Boiling Rock.

Suki was so focused on Azula and Ty Lee's reunion that she nearly jumped out of her skin when Raven addressed her, “People are still trapped in the palace. I have to go help them.”

“Of course you do.” Suki sighed tiredly and resigned herself to watching over Azula until Raven returned from the Fire Nation.

“Zuko will be a huge problem once he finds out we're hiding his sister here.”

“He'll be too distracted with the return of his children and blaming me for the attack on the palace.” Raven was so matter of fact about it that it took a moment for Suki to absorb what she had said.

“Speaking of attacks, Jinx said that you would be able to sense the one on the palace...” Suki trailed off as several little things about Raven's disappearance, Raven and Azula re-appearing, and the strange clothing Azula wore, clicked into place. “You took her to your dimension, didn't you?”

“Yes. And if you'd seen Crescent Isles you would have broken Azula out of there too. Taking her to my dimension was the safest option for everyone.” Before Suki could respond further Raven vanished into thin air.

* * *

**The Fire Nation, Caldera City; Royal Palace/Day 60**

* * *

The burns on his side sent sharp lances of pain across his back as he skidded across the red tiles. As soon as he stopped he transported himself behind Psimon and lashed out with a kick. There was a grunt as Psimon hit the ground. He heard the heavy thud behind him and braced for the hit, that never came.

Instead he felt the temperature drop and when he looked behind him, he saw giant shadowy talons slicing the metal soldier in half. “Where's Iroh?”

He hastily pointed in the direction of half melted puddles of metal that trailed down the corridor.

“Go help him. Its time I dealt with the thief.” He nodded and after snapping off a salute, Kyd disappeared.

Raven silently summoned her soul-self and shrouded herself and Psimon in it. She observed the man who had struck a bargain with her sire. “Its time I revoked the powers that your master gifted to you.”

Psimon gave up the pretense of being injured and as he rose from the ground, brushing dust off his robes, he sneered, “ _You can try._ ”

He sent a blast of pure psychic energy at her and it punched through her hastily erected shield like tissue paper. When the energy hit, it sent her flying back to crash through a wall.

“ _I bested your father, Pride. What make's you think that you can take what I've kept._ ” His helmet started to pulse rapidly and he was starting to gasp for breath.

“I killed him and that voids any contracts he made. The more time you spend in my presence, the harder those powers will fight to return to me.” She let a small shade of Rage take over and as a manic grin spread across her face, she saw Psimon tremble. “Azarath Metrion Zinthos.”

Her soul-self shroud collapsed and two fire soldiers flickered into the area, honing in on Psimon. Psimon re-doubled his efforts to escape but the fire soldiers weren't making it easy. When Psimon would avoid a stream of orange fire, a black fire ball would burst into sparks on a rapidly weakening purple shield. While Psimon was busy dodging the fire soldiers, her soul-self would pass through him and siphon more of his powers.

His powers were nearly gone and as her soul-self was siphoning the last of them, Psimon whispered an incantation, “ _Sotniz Noitem Htarza._ ”

The effects were instant as sickly purple runes appeared on her body. She hit the ground hard and writhed as the traces of Psimon's energy from his attack on her mind joined with the powers she had collected to shred her soul-self.

 _**“** _ _**Fine,” She snarled as she embraced the sting of defeat. The pain slowly ebbed as her emotes merged one after the other. “you can keep the powers you stole. Sxla Hln Ezox Nerem Gerln Sxla”** _

_**A bolt of black and purple launched itself at Psimon as the bolt passed through Psimon, it tore a pale gray sliver of Psimon's soul out. His mouth opened in a silent scream and then he collapsed to ground. At the same time a wave of exhaustion stole over her and she welcomed the darkness.  
** _

* * *

Far too soon she was shook awake and it was only because of her soul-self's familiarity with Iroh's emotions that allowed him to keep his hand. When her eyes opened she saw Kyd fidgeting nervously over Iroh's shoulder.

“I'm fine Kyd. I just haven't been sleeping well.” He nodded despite not really believing her but he knew she could muscle through any injury during a mission.

“Good because we have company.” Iroh pointed at two small figures at the end of the corridor.

“They're friendlies.” She said as she climbed to her feet. “I believe I summoned you two for a reason.”

At that the two figures bowed and sprinted out of sight. She sighed, “Iroh fill me in on the escape plan.”

* * *

**Kyoshi Island, Fire Nation Refugee Camp/Day 60; Two hours later...**

* * *

“Fire lord Zuko!” The messenger burst into the main tent and hastily bowed. “Raven just appeared in the infirmary tent with several injured civilians and imperial soldiers. I've already sent for Master Katara and the healers.”

The fire lord was already exiting the tent before the messenger had finished speaking, the messenger hurriedly rushed to catch the fire lord before he'd gone too far. “Lord Zuko, Raven did not remain in the tent.”

“Of course not,” He murmured under his breath but he shook his head and focused on helping his people, he would speak with Raven later.

“Lien,” The messenger snapped to attention, “run ahead and make sure the infirmary has been properly prepped for a waterbender as well as enough bandages and medicine for the regular healers to stabilize the non-critical patients.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **  
> **  
> _Yeah its been a minute since my last update because this chapter did not want to be written and I've recently been hit with inspiration and desire to work on my original stuff. My original stuff does take priority over fanfic. But I will finish this fic and any others I post._  
>   
> 
> **  
> **  
> _Anyways enjoy the chapter._  
> 


	22. A Snake in the Grass

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans or its characters. I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender or its characters. I own only the plots/ideas/situations that I have placed the characters in and my OCs.  
** _

* * *

_**Kyoshi Island, Refugee Camp; the Council Tent/Day 60  
** _

* * *

She was disoriented and a little cold but her ears perked up when she heard her mother's voice getting closer, “I love you, in all your idiotic glory. But from the moment Raven flew into that court yard all you've let yourself see of Raven is how much she reminds you of Azula. Raven is not your sister, Zuko. Raven, if she'd been in the Fire Nation would have come to our aid.”

 _We have an aunt?_ This thought was quickly pushed out of her mind as her father accused Raven of knowing about the attack. “You're right. But that begs the question, where was she for the attack? Maybe she knew about it...”

She bristled on Raven's behalf and wanted to give her father a piece of her mind, if mother didn't beat her to it. Her resolve to yell at him later was cemented in place when Raven spoke.

“Or maybe she prioritized Azula's treatment over the Fire Nation and its ruler, whom already rejected her offer of help once.”

She didn't even spare a glance at Raven as she launched herself at her mother, from the corner of her eye she saw Rook had similarly rushed their dad.

As she was held in her mother's arms and then traded to her father a minute later, her mind was fixated on that master firebender that accompanied Raven. There was something familiar about her but no matter how hard she tried, that familiarity remained out of reach. 

* * *

“Huh?” She said coming out of her daze. She had no idea how she got to the tent she and Rook were in.

“I said,” Rook paused to look at her, making sure she was paying attention this time. “what's gotten you so upset?”

“I'm not upset. I-”

“Daoru's been flickering in and out for the last little while.”

She let out an annoyed huff at his interruption. “I'm thinking about that master firebender. She seemed awfully familiar but I can't think of where from. I know I've met her. And her chi, even though she only bent lighting, felt similar to Daoru. Did you...?”

She saw how Rook started to fidget as she stared into his eyes, silently asking the rest of her question.

“No I didn't feel anything like that. You should let it go Lil. I have a bad feeling about that firebender.” He couldn't stand the look in her eyes as he said this so he shifted his attention to the stretch of tent behind her.

“I can't let this go Roku.” She said and took very little joy in his resulting wince. She told him that she would use his full name when she was angry with him or irritated.

“Why?”

“The shape of her eyes are the same. The color's the same. The protectiveness was the same.” Her voice grew more and more quiet as she spoke.

“Lil why are you so fixated on a stranger. One that we've never met before today.” He coaxed trying to keep her from getting more upset than she was.

“She's the woman, Rook.” At her admission he went stock still. They were both told by their parents, and Shen, that they were found next to a woman's body. The woman who'd taken them after she killed their parents; their real parents. Lost in the rush of unpleasant memories as he was, he almost missed the rest of what she was saying, “I know the story. But I've never believed it, not for a second. I remember the woman waking up as we were found by Shen's search party. Her eyes locked with mine when he picked me up. They were filled with protectiveness and desperation. That master firebender had the same eyes as the woman.”

“She can't be, cause if she was than she murdered our parents. ” He spat, frustration bleeding into his words.

“No she didn't, they've all been lying to us. Shen, Mom and Dad.” She said trying to keep a lid on her anger at his stubbornness.

“She destroyed our family before we even got to be a part of it!” He screamed back, sparks flying from his finger tips. He took a moment to reign his fire chi in. After taking several deep breaths, he asked, “Why are you so hung up on this firebender?”

“I think she's our mother.” She said softly.

“Well she isn't and if she was, how could a mother abandon her own children.” He shot back, though his tone wasn't as sharp as before.

“If that's how you feel,” He looked everywhere but at Lily not even when Daoru appeared did he look at her. “then I'll find her myself.”

At this he did meet her gaze. “She's on Kyoshi.”

He moved to catch her sleeve to hitch a ride but was too late and his hand closed around air. His stomach twisted into painful knots as his guilt overwhelmed him. He needed fresh air, that would help clear his head. He exited the tent.

“Where's your sister?” He heard Shen growl and refrained from backing away from the general.

* * *

_**Refugee Camp; the Infirmary Tent/Day 60  
** _

* * *

As she pulled her soul-self back from the injured civilians and soldiers she carried, to deposited them on the cots, Intelligence's summons seeped into her birthmarks making them pulse with the same agony that she felt when Slade inscribed them on her; do not ignore. She swallowed the reflective hiss as she sunk into the ground.

_Nevermore was still a scattered smattering of small rocky platforms, revolving around the large platform that held Azula's tree. Everything was lit by the sickly purple light cast from the giant runes across the sky. None of them had yet to fade. She suspected that they wouldn't for quite a while._

_She slowly made her way past the floating debris and to the burnt out skeletal remains of Intelligence's library. It relieved her to see that there was already a handful of books drifting toward the platform to join the small pile that was already there. Intelligence had been working non-stop to beat their faculties into some semblance of order to be of some help to Azula._

_As she descended to land, she was dismayed to see that Rage and Intelligence had willingly merged. She was cautious in her approach, the last time this happened she was over powered and lost control; Slade got thrown around like a rag-doll and her friends' fear of her grew. Controlled Fury wasn't an emote that she wanted to meet again._

_Their cloak was a dark orange-red that had inscriptions fading in and out; the reddish tint to it told her that Intelligence was barely holding herself back from giving in to their anger. The cloak billowed around them in a non-existent breeze. She shivered as the chill of their soul-self smothered her under its oppressive weight._

_**'We've identified one of Azula's frequent visitors.'** _ _Her apprehension worsened by Fury's words. Intelligence nor Rage would mince their words but the fact that they were, means they need her to stay in control._

 _**'They were sent here by someone a long time ago, we do not know who. We aren't comfortable with guessing it was the Brotherhood. But it seems to fit. We request a full merge.'** _ _Her knee-jerk reaction was to stay no and demand they tell her what they knew; they'd never asked like this before. But again they were holding back to keep her from losing it._

_Her voice was calm. 'Why a full merge?'_

_**'Psimon's attack and subsequent injury, limits our power. You'll need all of us to harness our sire's powers. The actions we'll be taking require them. It won't be for long but long enough to incapacitate your human half.'** _

_'I suspect you'll be taking the lead in this merge.' Fury nodded._

_'_ _**May we proceed with the merge?'** _ _She held eye contact with deep orange-red eyes. 'Proceed but be warned I will not tolerate needless action and I will step in if things get out of hand.'_

 _Her anxiety reached fever pitch as Controlled Fury walked slowly toward her. Not stopping until they'd pulled her in for a hug._ _**'Father controlled a handful of us to some degree and made us hurt you and your humans. They will not come to any harm. You don't have to be afraid for them anymore.'** _

_**She closed her eyes as Controlled Fury's soul-self pulled her into its burning chill; they were one.**_  

* * *

_**T** **he half-demon sensed his presence on Kyoshi, he shouldn't be there. She caught the tail-end of an emotional flare directed at him. Her soul-self followed the flare to Rook and the one she sought. She stayed within the shadows of the tent they were behind; only her eyes were visible.** _

“Where's your sister?” Shen's voice was little more than a growl as he stalked toward Rook.

“I don't know, sir. But I'll send Kuutak to find her.” Kuutak's fiery orange form appeared next to Rook as he spoke. But the fire guardian didn't disappear until Shen had nodded his assent.

“As soon as he's located her, you're both to pack your things for a training trip.” Shen said and without waiting for a response from Rook, turned on his heel. Mid-spin hazel eyes locked with red ones. His panic closed around her throat like a vise as he vanished into thin air. She tried her best to lock onto his emotions but he was teleporting too fast for her to follow. The shadows writhed and shredded the tents nearest her.

“ _ **Rook**_ ,” He spun around to face her. “ _ **Send Kuutak to your sister and have him warn her about Shen. Neither of you are to go anywhere with him. Do you understand?**_ ”

He gulped at the odd cadence to her tone, he'd never hear anyone's voice sound so scary before. “Yes Ma'am.”

“ _ **Good. Once you've sent him, you'll remain here with Zemra and Kyrak.**_ ” Behind her, he watched as two fiery entities rose from the ground. Where their feet should have been, they had tails made of fire. The fire was red and black as it flaked off their bodies. Eight red eyes, like the ones that Raven had, rested on him. “ _ **Shen won't try anything with them here.**_ ”

Without another word she vanished and he nervously glanced from Zemra to Kyrak. “H-Hi.”

* * *

_**Kyoshi Island; the Lake/Day 60  
** _

* * *

It wasn't surprising that Ty would abandoned her like this. And as hard as she tried and much to her chagrin, Azula was right, it was impossible to be angry with Ty. The acrobat was currently using her lap for a pillow as she watched Azula move through a series of different katas. She thought it looked more like a dance than real firebending but the most unusual part was the color of the flames; they were orange-red.

“Ask,” She shivered as Azula directed a glare at her. “I can feel the heat of your burning questions.”

She tried to stifle her snort but from the way Azula's glare intensified, she wasn't successful. But as she went to speak the question on the tip of her tongue, she changed her mind. “She wanted to visit you.”

“But she didn't.” There was something in the way that Azula had spat those words out that took her a moment to identify; hurt. Her mind flash through all of Azula's interactions with Ty Lee and that same hurt was there, hidden behind snark and anger. She could scarcely believe that this was the same woman who'd conquered Ba Sing Sei, the same woman that gave her nightmares, and the same woman who almost killed Aang. “I wasn't expecting a parade, but I hoped, at the very least, she would have visited.”

“Iroh warned us that trying to see you would get us imprisoned.” She said not being able to listen to the broken undercurrent in Azula's voice any longer.

“Us?”

She nodded, “You're important to her and as much as I hated you before, I refrained from speaking badly of you, for her sake.”

“Hated?” She would've laughed out loud at having reduced Princess Azula to bewildered one-word questions, if she didn't expect Azula to charbroil her on the spot.

“Your brother killed fifteen people when he was here, looking for Aang. All you did was kick my ass and scare off a sky bison. No one got hurt, except my pride and Kyoshi's legacy.” She shrugged and flashed Azula a rueful smile, “Ty pointed out I was being a stubborn idiot and threw that in my face. It forced me to re-evaluate your actions toward the end of the war. Between you and Zuko, some of his actions were even worse than yours.”

“Out of the many non-benders I've fought, you were one of the most memorable.” She figured that was about as close to a thank you as Azula got.

“I have a lot of experience fighting firebenders.” She saw the thoughtful and calculating glint in gold eyes. “Its not well known among the rest of the world but some of the Kyoshi warriors are benders, they just don't use it when in uniform. In fact before I got promoted to lead, the use of bending was forbidden but I changed that. Now new recruits have to be able to fight off and overcome two benders at once to officially join the Kyoshi warriors.”

“That's not an attitude I've encountered very often from non-benders. Most of the time their bitter and resentful,” She watched as Azula stopped to take a deep fortifying breath. “Bending isn't all that's its cracked up to be.” Another breath from Azula as if the firebender's lungs refused to hold the air in and she spoke, her voice a whisper. “All my bending has ever brought me is suffering.”

“Did-” _your father beat you?_ She felt a pit of dread forming in her stomach that forced her to close her mouth over a suspicion that Ty's vehement defense of Azula birthed in her two months ago. “Never mind its not important.”

She pretended not to notice Azula's tense muscles loosen at her words. A silence settled between them. Azula went back to practicing her katas and Suki resumed keep watch over the valley as she waited for Raven to return.

The silence was shattered a few seconds later as a ball of pink hit the ground hard enough to knock Azula off her feet. Ty Lee's eyes fluttered once before they stilled and she slept on. Suki hid her amusement as Azula scowled at Jinx. But was shocked when her scowl transformed to a small smile a moment later. The reason for her smile was a man, standing behind Jinx, in strange all black body armor with a splash of blue across his chest; in the shape of a bird.

Suki's jaw hung open when Azula let an orange skinned woman lift her off the ground and into a hug. “Friend Azula we had worries when you and Friend Raven disappeared.”

“Star, the princess needs to breathe.” Her eyes were drawn to another man with a half-metal face and a red eye. Her attention was drawn back to Azula and the woman addressed as Star who was lowering Azula back to the ground.

Azula had a fire dagger in one hand as she advanced on the man with a red eye. Before she could shout a warning to him or tackle Azula to the ground, a water whip smacked the back of his head. The source was a waterbender with dark blue eyes.

“How many times have I told you not to antagonize Azula?” A dark eyebrow rose as the waterbender waited for a response.

Looking like a thoroughly chastised child, he mumbled, “Countless.”

“Jinx what the hell is going on? Who are they and why are they here?” She kept her tone as calm and as even as possible.

“Rae asked me to collect these four losers before relieving you and Ty Lee as Azula's minders. Else Fire Lord Cannon Fodder and Avatar Tactless will think something is up. Also, this is the rest of the original Titans from Left to right we have Robin, Starfire, and Cyborg. And...?” Jinx trailed off as she glanced in the waterbender's direction.

“Zen Ji, Azula's current doctor. Speaking of, Azula you're long over due for a check up.” To Suki's further shock, Azula complied with the waterbender.

With a more firm tone of voice she said, “ Jinx, why are they here?”

“To help you stop the Brotherhood and whatever they're planning for your dimension.” Jinx's tone was smug and matter of fact. She made a mental note to keep Jinx away from Aang and Zuko for as long as she possibly could.

“Why isn't Raven here?” Everyone's attention was drawn to Ty Lee who had finally been woken by the noise but if the way Azula's eyes had shifted to the acrobat and back to the Titans, Suki would bet anything that Ty Lee had been awake the entire time.

“She's on Kyoshi but she said she needed to flush out a rat before they escaped with their information. Said this rat was hanging around the royal family.” Jinx said with a shrug.

“Come on Ty, lets go lend our assistance to Raven. I don't want her to have to deal with Zuko on her own.” The three Titans were surprised at the stern woman's sheer protectiveness for Raven. The Titans stayed long enough to make sure Azula would be okay with Jinx and Zen watching over her before following after the two women. 

* * *

  _ **Refugee Camp/Day 60**_

* * *

Suki braced herself for the meeting between the Titans and Zuko as she led the three Titans through the refugee camp. There were a thousand different way that their presence could be interpreted by Mai and Zuko; mostly Zuko.

“Suki, Ty, thank the spirits!” She heaved a sigh and prepared for the latest life-threatening situation in two whole months of a never-ending stream of them.“The Giant Serpent-eels are attacking. Zhaji, Reina, Mammoth, Gizmo, and X are trying to hold them off, there are kids in the water.”

“Ty.” She said and wasn't disappointed when her acrobat snagged Ade's arm, dragging her off to go rally the troops. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Starfire take off after them. She loosed a breath as the weight on her shoulders lifted a little.

As they came upon the council tent, she was stopped by a question from Robin, “Is there anything we should know about this Fire Lord and Fire Lady before going in?”

“Don't bring Azula up to Zuko, there's a lot of bad blood between them. And he's gotten worse over the last few years. Don't say anything about her being on Kyoshi either.” She paused to swallow around the sudden lump in her throat about what Zuko would do to the fragile woman that Azula was underneath the scorn and fire. “They, unlike Aang, Katara, and Sokka, have seen the Brotherhood first hand and are willing to help you fight them. It'd be best if you focused on that.”

As she reached out to lift the tent flap and let them inside, they flew open. An irate general Shen rushed out. He shouldered her out of the way or at least tried to. With reflexes honed from endless hours of practice and with everything that the last two months had thrown at her, her hands lashed out to land several jabs to his torso. Shen went down hard.

He lay un-moving for a second before jumping up, only for his shadow to come alive behind him. The shadows winding around him like a snake started pulling him down into the ground. A shrill scream echoed in the air as his head was swallowed up by the ground.

The entire camp echoed with an inhuman snarl of rage. That made every living things' bones rattle. As Zuko and Mai exited the council tent, Raven rose from the ground facing away from everyone. Suki bristled when Zuko rounded on her. “What is the meaning of this? Why have you attacked my general?”

Suki wasn't prepared for Raven to turn around and skewer Zuko with four narrowed solid red eyes, and the half-demon's answer sent chills down her spine. “ _ **He's in league with the Brotherhood. They have plans for Rook and Lily.**_ ”

“No that's impossible.” Zuko's disbelief was mirrored by Mai's.

“Raven are you sure?” Everyone's attention was drawn to the speaker.

“ _ **I'm sure.**_ ” Raven's four red eyes shifted to Robin. “ _ **Kyd had orders to help evacuate the rest of the civilians from the palace and then bring Shen, Iroh, Rau, and Gar back to Kyoshi. He teleported here on his own. I like the new uniform.**_ ”

He flashed her a smile at the comment on his uniform and,“Good enough for me. But maybe we should take this discussion somewhere else?”

To the surprise of all, mostly Suki, Zuko and Mai ushered them into the council tent without a word. The tent was dark when they entered it, a well-placed and controlled wave of flame produced by Zuko illuminated the space. The illumination from the candles didn't last long when Raven entered and seemed to dim the lit candles with her presence alone.

Everyone waited for the silence to break but when it had they soon wished it hadn't been. “Who are you?”

“Robin, leader of the Titans. And here to help you stop the Brotherhood.” Robin's tone was short. Raven shared Mai's amusement at the exchange.

“How many of you are there?” Zuko's irritation at Robin's dislike of him dripped from his words like water from a faucet.

“A hundred,” Robin said and gestured for Cyborg to follow him as he crossed the tent to stand by Raven and Suki, “and counting. But if you meant currently on Kyoshi. There's eleven of us.”

Neither Mai or Suki missed the smug glint in Cyborg and Robin's eyes at his last statement. Mai eyes narrowed at that and she felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. “This is all very fascinating but can we discuss why Raven wants to start a war with the Fire Nation?”

“ _ **They are not your children, are they**_?” Her question drained the blood from Mai and Zuko's faces; Cyborg, Robin, and Suki were somewhat confused by her declaration.

“ _ **Do you even know that your general**_ ,” She made his rank sound like an insult, “ _ **is their father**_?” The roiling mass of emotions from them was all the answer she needed.

“This doesn't make any sense, why would he pretend they weren't his?!” Zuko defended his general, refusing to believe what she was saying.

“ _ **Who taught them how to master fire bending**_?” She whispered answering his question with another question.

It was Mai who answered, “He did.”

“ _ **Have you ever seen Shen use his firebending**_?” The silence that fell after her latest question was telling.

“ _ **Mai**_ ,” the fire lady's fear impelled her like the knifes she fought with. Her grin slowly revealed her razor sharp fangs. “ _ **who does Lily remind you of**_?”

The hesitation was so brief that, had her empathy been less advanced, she would have missed it.

“Ursa, Zuko's mother.”

“ _ **You're lying**_.” She said so sweetly that it was in congruent with her tone. “ _ **Their eyes are the same shape, the same color. Their mannerisms are the same though Lily's haven't yet become malicious like hers. They're both prodigies. I will ask once more. Who does Lily remind you of?**_ ”

“Enough!” Zuko formed a fire dagger in his left hand and leveled it at Raven. Cyborg, Robin, and Suki all readied their own weapons. Mai wisely stayed perfectly still, she knew Zuko was all bluster when he got frustrated. “Speak plainly. I'm tired of these fucking mind games!”

“Zuko.” His eyes shifted to Mai and then back to Raven. He tensed further when he felt her hand on his wrist, the same one with the fire dagger. Gently Mai rubbed soothing circles into the muscles to relax them. His tension melted away and he drew his chi back into him, allowing the fire dagger to fade. His gold eyes found dark bronze. “I've always lied to you when you've asked me. I said Lily bore a striking resemblance to your mother. But who else...”

“No.” He shook his head and tried to pull his wrist from her hand but she held onto him.

“I was afraid of what you'd do if you found out; especially after the fight you had with your uncle. I failed her when I picked you over her. But I couldn't, would not fail her in this.” This time when he tried to pull away, she let him.

“Lily has always reminded me of Azula.” He moved even further away from her. His eyes land on Raven and was startled to see confusion on her face as the half-demon's focus was on Mai; like she'd never seen Mai before this moment or was seeing her for the first time.

His mind raced through every interaction he's had with Lily. With his eyes forced wide open, all the little things he blocked out; her bending, the flash of fiery rage in gold eyes, and the way she sneered at people when they were mean to Rook. It all clicked and his image of Lily fell away as he spoke a truth that he'd buried, “Azula is her mother.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah cliffhangers...gotta love them.


	23. Origin Of the Flames

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Trigger Warning! Ah there's some dicey dialogue in this that alludes to rape and torture. Please proceed with caution!**  
>  ALSO: If you can't read this or other chapters with TWs, this story is on FF.net with the same name, do feel free to PM me on FF.net to get a Trigger free summery of that chapters' plot points. Or you can message me on tumbler, http://zire-7.tumblr.com/
> 
> So there's another cliffhanger at the end of this one...Sorry, not sorry.

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender or Teen Titans. I own only the plots/situations/ideas that I have placed the characters in and my OCs.** _

* * *

  _ **Council Tent/Day 60**_

* * *

Lily had Daoru deposit her behind the council tent; Dao would locate the master firebender faster without her. There was a small shaded alcove in the earth wall surrounding the camp. Her mother asked General Toph to put it there for a quiet getaway. It also afforded an excellent and comfy seat to eavesdrop on meetings that were held in the council tent.

She shifted in the seat, trying to get comfy but gave up after a few moments. _I know Rook had to have felt the same familiarity. Why would he lie about it? I shouldn't have told him that I think she's our mother._

Her thoughts were halted when she heard Shen's voice. “Lord Zuko. In light of recent events I feel it would be prudent to increase Lily and Roku's training. I would like to take them on a training trip. We would stay on Kyoshi but be far enough away that, should those invaders follow us, they will be out of the direct line of fire.”

_I am not going anywhere with him._

“How long?”

“Two months should be sufficient for what I plan to teach them.” Her ears perked up as she heard a slight shake in his tone. If she didn't know any better, it sounded like Shen was afraid. _What's got him spooked?_

“Very well. You may leave with them as soon as you are able.”

“Thank you lord Zuko.” Something was definitely off about Shen today. There was a commotion on the other side of the tent. Lily heard a ear-piercing scream and an inhuman snarl that rattled her bones. It took her a long time to realize that she was still shaking from the sound. Even longer to get her body to stop shaking.

From the corner of her eye she saw Daoru's gold and black form, appear next to her. Daoru's presence brought her a small measure of comfort. Her blood ran cold as she heard Raven speak, “ _ **He's in league with the Brotherhood. They have plans for Rook and Lily.**_ ”

_I've got to warn him._ As she turned to send Dao to Rook, she saw that Daoru was already flickering out. Her stomach was churning and it was all she could do to not vomit. _I've never liked Shen, he was always too intent on our training and he was mean to Rook._

“ _ **They are not your children, are they?**_ ” Lily waited for her mom or dad to say something but they never did. The churning in her stomach got even worse. “ _ **Do you even know, that your general,**_ ” The sheer amount of disdain that Raven's tone conveyed in one word, raised the hairs on the back of her neck. “ _ **is their father?**_ ”

The flickering bright orange visage of Kuutak was an unwelcome intrusion. With venom in her voice she hissed, “What does Rook want Kuutak?”

_'He sent me to bring you back to the tent.'_

“I'm not going. Kuu, Return to Rook.” Kuutak's form flickered in alarm at the malevolence in her aura. “Go or I'll have Dao make you leave.”

_'He's worried about you.'_

Kuutak had little time to react as Daoru rushed him. A single black and gold fist struck their center. The only evidence that another entity had been present, were the dissipating bright orange sparks.

“Thank you.” She said giving her guardian a slight nod.

Daoru inclined their head.

“Azula is her mother.

Everything narrowed to those gold eyes filled with bleak shadows and despair. “Please take me to that woman-” Dao was next to her in an instant, the guardian's hands hovering to either side of her shoulders. “Take me to Azula.”

* * *

Zuko's rage clouded her empathy; it was all she could feel. Rage was feeding on it. “Is that bastard dead?!”

The tension grew as they waited for an answer. It was clear to whom he spoke. The minutes passed and not a sound escaped from Raven. Her skin burned as it darkened. She allowed the inferno that was Rage's will to shine through. Her soul-self distorted the shadows in the tent to reflect her true form over her physical body.

_**“Foolish human.”**_ She glanced toward her humans then back to her enemy. He had drawn back. She decided that that simply would not do. Her form shifted and twisted until she towered over in him. _**“Death is too neat, too clean, too painless, too pleasant for him.”**_ With a wave of her hand the blue cloak transformed to red, she let it flare wide, hundreds of pairs of red eyes were in the shadow it cast over him. _**“His abilities are the reason he was not cast into a demon infested pit and left to rot as they devoured his soul.”**_

Two thin red lines of her soul-self coiled around him, more strands gathered beneath him to hold him firmly in place. _**“And instead of being able to hunt him, I am stuck here explaining myself to you. The next time our path's cross, he will not escape me.”**_

As she willed her soul-self to constrict around him, the kaleidoscope of fury was siphoned off. _**“Azarath**_ _Metrion_ Zinthos”

“Raven what-” Robin stopped mid sentence as he moved forward to catch his collapsing teammate. Heedless of the appearance of her birthmarks and the purple-black rings of soul-self shrouding her. “Cyborg I want a diagnostic scan now.”

“Already done.” The scans told him nothing useful or good, he growled. “Whatever Slade and that crazy fire asshole did, its still doing a number on her.”

“How long will she be out for?” He asked as he wrapped her as best as he could in her cloak; her skin would be highly sensitive to light for awhile.

“Best case she'll be up in a few hours, worst case a week.”

Robin gently handed Raven to Cyborg before turning to Suki. “Is there anywhere that she can rest? Where she won't be around a lot of people and in a room devoid of light?”

“She's not going anywhere-” Zuko let out a high pitched yelp when Mai elbowed him in the side. When he looked to be about to continue Mai's death glare made him keep his mouth shut.

“All of you can crash at my place. Raven can rest in my cellar.” Suki said with a hard edge to her voice. She hoped that Zuko would object, so she could hit him too. Robin and Cyborg couldn't hide their surprise at Suki's over-protectiveness; she didn't seemed bothered that Raven had gone full Red Menace on Zuko.

The flaps to the tent were thrown open as four imperial firebenders, a Kyoshi warrior, Gar, Iroh, and Starfire entered the tent. At the same time that Gar opened his mouth, the small figure surrounded by the firebenders spoke too.

“There are fires breaking out all over the island.”

“I can't find Lily.” 

* * *

  _ **The Lake/Day 60**_

* * *

Her breathing did not change as she felt the fluctuating fire chi again. It was the same as those fire spirits from the tower's infirmary. She did not elect to bring it to the attention of her companions. The fire spirit hadn't yet breached the valley.

_I've seen them before, but where?_ This question was on a non-stop loop ever since her and Raven appeared in the palace. Her emotes were alarmingly silent when her thoughts focused on the fire spirits or the children they belonged to.

“Whoa slow down, X. Cliff notes!” Jinx's sharp tone drew her out of her headache inducing thoughts. “Fires breaking out across the island, Shen's been working for the Brotherhood and has teleportation abilities, Princess Lily is missing, and Raven pushed herself too far and is out of commission. Robin wanted me to contact you, said your Black Magic's leader. He, Cyborg, and Beast Boy are helping the more isolated villages. Starfire is hunting for Shen and searching for the missing kid. Mam and Giz are helping with fire suppression on the other side of the Bay. Kyd's been helping with evac.”

“Get back to Giz and Mam, have Kyd go to Suki for a familiar face and get to the biggest fire. The familiar face will explain to the locals that you're there to help. You and Kyd are to help with evac of civilians trapped in buildings. Giz and Mam are on fire suppression with the local Kyoshi warriors. Rinse, lather, repeat. Me and Zen will help Starfire look for the kid.” There a was snap and than a frustrated groan. She heard a startled gasp from the waterbender.

Azula cracked an eye open to see what caused it. She nearly gasped herself. One of the giant boulders along the lake's shore had shattered into a million pebbles. Tiny sparks of pink ran along each pebble.

“Jinx we can't leave Azula here, especially if everyone is running around the island putting out fires. If Zuko or any Kyoshi warriors find her here...they'll kill her.” Zen's worry for her well being, birthed a warmth in her chest. It was nice to know that she had someone else, besides the Titans, that would look out her.

“Somehow that doesn't surprise me, but we don't have a choice. From what X said, Shen tried to take Lily and Rook. Whatever the Brotherhood has planned for this world, it involves them. Will you be able to live with yourself, when he gets to Lily first?”

Before Zen could protest further or offer a counter-argument, Azula's cutting tone drew their attention. “Stop bickering and go find the girl.” Her gaze shifted to Zen, “I have no intention of letting anyone find me. Nor do I have any intention of leaving this valley. I'm not well enough to face what's out there. My bending isn't reliable and lightning is off limits for the time being.”

“You're damn right it is. I can't believe you were fool enough to try it with your chi in the condition that it's in.” Zen mumbled under her breath.

“Just go.” Both Zen and Jinx spared one last glance at her before Jinx grabbed Zen's arm and they disappeared in a flash of pink.

She once more measured her breathing and focused only on the even in and out. Meditation wasn't something she'd ever had to do to feel for her chi. When asked by her fire masters, she had answered that she had always felt it. They declared her a prodigy then.

_It was odd finding herself in the palace but she knew it wasn't his. He would never let the rubble strewn about remain. She walked among the splintered wood, cracked titles, and torn tapestries to the gaping hole that was the entrance to the throne room. Today she was greeted by Intelligence and her wall of yellow flames. The wall lowered to stand at only half height as she moved further into the throne room._

_'I often forget that we are good at most things we set our mind too.' The yellow armor didn't rattle at all as the emote shifted into a more comfortable position on the throne._

_Intelligence did not speak until she was settled. ' But no matter how many times you come nor how many times you inquire, my answer will remain the same. Let this go.'_

_“We both know that I can't. Our panic attack wasn't just caused by being in his palace. Those children triggered it and I need to know why.” The wall of yellow flames guttered as the air grew heavy. “Tell me where I've seen them.”_

_The emote pushed back against the heaviness, she snapped, 'Sifu there's a reason you've blocked out the last six years at Crescent Isles.'_

_The horror struck look that spread across Intelligence's face when she realized what she'd let slip, was jarring to see. Azula paid it very little mind as she latched onto the unintended hint. “That's where I've seen them.”_

_The horror struck look on the emote's face morphed into one of pure agony as the memories rose around them. A crackle and a flash of red were her only warnings. The bolt of red lighting flung her through the wall of red and yellow flames._

Her breaths gushed out in rapid pants that tasted like sand. She was laying face down on the sandy shore of the lake, her back was numb. She sighed before rolling over onto her back, she relished the pain it caused. It was tolerable, it felt like pressing a hand to a bruise. Her eyes shut trying to block out the fleeting images and sensations that always indicated a trip into Raven's memories. 

* * *

_Her back spasmed, the muscles were taut as a bow string. Her lungs were screaming for air, her legs wobbled dangerously, but she kept running. The first bolas glanced off her shoulder and nearly sent her face first to the ground. She felt her knee give a warning twinge, but she ran on. The second bolas found its mark, as she toppled over, she spun with the momentum of the throw to land on her back._

_The air was forced from her lungs by the impact. She gave in to the enticing black spots across her vision. She fought against the blackness to claw her way back to consciousness. She woke long enough to see him leaving her to die, she wasn't needed anymore; he had what he wanted but not everything._

* * *

She let the swirling images fade. _Those were my memories..._ She was too pre-occupied with what she saw to sense the approach of the fire spirit. When its black and gold form flicked into being, a small figure detached from it. The fire spirit's companion captured her attention; the fire spirit appeared with one of those kids.

The girl's eyes zeroed in on her and than back to the fire spirit. “Daoru stay close. Those other two could come back and Shen's probably lurking around somewhere too.”

' _As you command_.' Daoru bowed its head then flickered out of view. Daoru's fiery form reappeared on the lake's opposite shore.

“Is your name Azula?” Lily wasted no time in getting down to business.

“It is.” She answered looking directly into eyes like hers. “You're princess Lily, I presume?”

Lily ignored the question and searched gold eyes for any sign or spark of recognition. As the minutes passed she found nothing in them. Lily's voice trembled as tears rolled down her face. “You don't even remember us. R-Rook was right. You're not her. You can't be our mother.”

_Our mother._ Like the beat of a drum this thought pounded through her head.

“ _There's a fire in the city of pictures, leaving nothing but ashes below._ _Its only forever for a day. Tomorrow is burning away._ ” Her voice shook as she sung the strangely familiar words. “ _Burn away, burn away, burn away.”_

There was a beat of silence between mother and daughter. Lily's tears slowed as their eyes met. “That song, so you do remember us.”

“No...I...” Her voice was little more than a pained whisper. The breath had been robbed from her lungs. Images flashed across her vision, she did her best to shut them out.

* * *

_Ursa's footsteps were silent as she approached her slumbering daughter. The sight of her little firefly sleeping soundly put a small smile on her face. Her smile was short lived. She tasted salt when the moisture caught at the corners of her mouth;the tears wouldn't be her last before this night was over. Her hand gently pulled the covers up and over Azula's small form._

_Her heart raced as Azula rolled beneath the blanket. She began to sing, “She's out of sight. He's out of mind, they've always lived in the castle. The frozen nights and moving lights, they're inside out of the window. There's a fire in the city of pictures, leaving nothing but ashes below. Its only forever for a day. Tomorrow is burning away. Burn away, burn away, burn away.”_

_As she watched her daughter settle,Ursa breathed a little easier. No one could know she was here. Ozai told her to choose, who she'd say goodbye to but she was done playing his games. She leaned down and placed a soft kiss to her forehead, “Sweet dreams, my little firefly and remember this lullaby; I hope you sing it to your little ones, someday.”_

_As she reached the door, she glanced back to burn the image of her daughter's face into her memory. Her tears refused to stop.  
_

* * *

_“She's out of touch. He's out of time. They'll always live in the castle. The fading flower, the passing hours, they fall like sand through their fingers.” By the time she rasped out the last line of the lullaby, the baby in her arms had settled as had the one she was leaving in the crib. Every step toward the window was physically painful, but she knew that she wasn't strong enough to keep running with both. She looked back once; he would be seen by too many people. Shen wouldn't be able to secret him away._

_“There's a fire in the city of pictures, leaving nothing but ashes below. Its only forever for a day. Tomorrow is burning away. Burn away, burn away, burn away. ” She fought to keep calm, knowing that it wouldn't be long now. He would find them, take her away, and Azula had to let him._  

* * *

The memory that washed over her, left her emotionally gutted. The song was her mother's lullaby. She had sung it to her children; to Lily and Rook. “He was going to secret you and your brother away. I-I couldn't let that happen. I escaped to make a scene so that even if that monster took you, he couldn't disappear with you, either of you.”

“If anyone here has a claim to the title of monster,” Both mother and daughter's heads turned in Shen's direction. In the blink of an eye, Azula was on her feet and placed herself in between him and Lily. “its you, princess.”

His hand pulled a cylindrical object from his belt, Azula tensed at seeing the grenade, but it wasn't for them. He pulled the pin and dropped it before shifting. Daoru's flickering from collided with the white vaporous cloud and collapsed into smoke.

“Pathetic. You couldn't beat me with your fire guardian before, Lil. And you never will.” He spat from their left.

Azula grabbed blindly for Lily, when their hands met, her mind was clear of the frenzied panic that his sudden appearance brought. “Stay behind me.”

“You lose.” He whispered, she spun lashing out with a kick but her leg sliced through empty air. Her mind was on the edge of panic again as she scanned the valley for any sign of him.

Azula forced herself to take a deep breath. She dropped into the first form of Towering Drake. As she waited she willed her unstable chi to obey its master. Her right arm burned with a deep chill, she shifted her body slightly to her left as the red runes glowed brightly. Her first volley of fire struck a startled Shen as he re-appeared and the heat of her blue flames, made him release Lily. She launched herself high in the air, at the highest point of her jump she fired her second volley of fireballs.

Her feet hit the ground before the fireballs were half way to their target. She pulled Lily close to her before sending a third volley to violently explode the second. The collision of fire sent waves of it over half of the valley. As the fire rained down she sped through two sets of katas. Azula's movements were measured, precise, and fluid like a waterbender.

The last motion of the katas brought both her arms over her chest in an X, she paused to lock on to Shen's position and broke the X. The fire spun and writhed in the air, twisting around itself as it converged on Shen. The head of a massive dragon rose to tower over him. The dragon's maw opened wide in a silent roar. Its snake-like body coiling, keeping Shen penned in.

The soothing emptiness answered her call as it always had. The arcs of blue-white sparks grew larger with each motion. Her left leg slid forward as her right locked in place, the bolt of lighting scattered her flame dragon. The clap of thunder was deafening, so much so that she didn't hear him draw the daggers from their sheaths or Lily's shout.

She jerked away from him when she felt his breath on her ear. The blood was warm as it spread down her back. The rough motion threatened to rip the daggers' hilts out of his hands and he reflexively tried to pull them back to him. The daggers were torn from her upper and lower back.

“I've always loved,” Her body refused to move as he crouched down to cup her cheek with his left hand, his thumb stroked it. She spat blue flames into thin air. He reappeared holding Lily flush to him with a hand around her throat. “and hated how much fight is in you. This little firefly is going to be quite the handful when she's older. Its too bad that you won't be around to see it.”

“Over my dead body.” She hissed as she tried to rise from the ground only to start coughing up blood. A small pool of it was seeping into the sand, staining it red; the runes on her arm were slowly disappearing one by one.

“I'm curious, what could you possibly do?” He sneered at her. He adjusted his grip on Lily and readied himself for a shift. “When you're more dead than alive.”

“Not me.”

He screamed as the left half of his body was enveloped in bright orange flames. The fire guardian flickered away with Lily in its arms. The defiance drained out of her then and she let her eyes close. “Never, say never.”

Shen's breathing was ragged, his voice hoarse from the screaming, “First I'll kill you and then I'll kill her. I only need one.”

The rasp of metal on stone rang out across the water, she heard a distant hum. His feet dislodged and scattered rocks as he stumbled near, she heard the gentle lap of the water as it broke around the large stones dotting the lake's shore. She never heard his sharp intake of breath as he forced his left arm up with his right nor did she hear as another scream rent the night air. The flash of light that slammed into him was swallowed up by the growing darkness; it beckoned to her and she went willingly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The song in this chapter is called, Burn Away by The Birthday Massacre.


	24. Family Reunion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please ignore any errors, or lend a helping hand and point them out to me; I will get to those on the marrow.

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender or its characters. I do not own Teen Titans or its characters. I own only the plots/ideas/situations that I have placed the characters in and my OCs.** _

* * *

The scent of smoke stung her nostrils, she hated the smell of smoke. She wasn't alone in her misery as Appa let out a low bellow. She scratched the patch of fur by his left horn to calm him. “Easy Appa. This is our last sweep.”

She'd been tasked with creating localized rain clouds to help prevent the spread of the smaller fires. After that, she helped evacuate the wounded to Port Lao Zun, it being the only town with four waterbenders; three of them capable healers.

“Alright, everything looks clear.” She tugged the reins to the right. Appa drifted to the right. “Lets get back to Aang.”

From the corner of her eye, she saw a massive flare of blue fire. Her breath caught in her throat. She felt the phantom heat of Azula's fire during the Agni Kai drive away the cool night air. She forced herself to take several deep breaths, she reasoned that it was just the moon's reflection off the lake.

She directed Appa to fly lower, to get a closer look, to make sure Azula hadn't escaped. There was another wave of blue flames and her stomach dropped. Appa dove toward the ground to avoid the fire as it start to fall like rain. The closer they got to the ground the clearer the figures on it became.

She saw Azula pull a smaller figure to her side as she started to dance or what looked like a dance. When Appa landed she dismounted and told him to get to safety. His huge head shook side to side. “I have the whistle,” She patted his nose with her hand. “go on. I can handle this.”

As Appa took off, her attention returned to the fight. A massive dragon comprised of blue flames encircled a third figure. The hairs on her neck and arms raised as she watched Azula gather sparks on her fingertips. The bolt of lighting speeding at the figure trapped by blue flames.

The the third figure was gone and in a blink was behind Azula, he backhanded Lily away from them, she saw a flash of silver; Azula collapsed. There was another flare of blue and she saw the third figure's face, it was general Shen.

* * *

Rook had ordered Kuutak to keep an eye on Lily and Daoru from a distance, so as not to upset them again. When they saw an opening to get Lily to safety they moved to separate her from the Invader. They did not expect Lily to struggle. “Kuutak. Go back. You have to save her. She can't die.”

Kuutak wanted to take Lily back to camp, to their master but he could not abandon the Origin. They took her to the water-weaver they could sense nearby. ' _Wait here,_ ' They turned to the startled water-weaver and stared her down. ' _Keep her safe._ '

They did not leave until the water-weaver agreed. Kuutak ran for the Origin and the Invader. The water was nearing, the moment before their footsteps touch the surface, they flickered across it. Kuutak tackled the Invader away from the Origin. They drew on the chi in the air to power their flames up.

When Shen shifted, Kuutak was right on his heels to greet him with punches and kicks. Their flames changed from bright orange to purple. They moved faster and could keep up with Shen's movements. Kuutak flickered behind Shen to encircled the general in their arms, Shen shifted. Kuutak stayed for a few moments more to protect the Origin and to ensure the Invader was gone before returning to Lily and the water-weaver.

' _The Invader is gone. You must hurr-_ ' They flickered out as Rook's chi could no longer sustain them.

* * *

 _Why is Azula on Kyoshi? Did Raven bring her here? What the hell was that fiery spirit thing?_ These were the most pressing questions running through her head as Lily tugged her toward Azula.

It wasn't until Lily had said, “You're master Katara, right?” That she was broken from her thoughts. “You have to heal her, we already lost her once because Shen's a two-faced rat-scorpion, we can't lose her again. I'd like the chance to get to know my mother.”

She resisted the urge to grab Lily and shake her, demanding answers. Instead she lumped _that_ question in with the rest of them and focused on Azula. Azula's skin was bone white, her eyes strained to catch any sign of life from her; there wasn't any. “I, there's-”

“Please you have to heal her. I'd be dead or worse without her. Shen was after me and she, she protected me.” Lily pleaded, and suddenly she was eight years old again; walking into the hut to see her mom laying on the ground, covered in blood.

Her eyes shifted from Lily to Azula once again, then to the sky. The light of the crescent moon had broken through the last of her rain clouds. _Yue I need any strength you can lend me._

“Can you fire bend?” She asked, gathering water from the lake before connecting to Azula's blood.

“Shen did something to Daoru and its making it hard to feel my chi. But I can try.”

“First I need you to cut off the cloth around Azula's wounds.” Sweat beaded on her brow and slid down her face as she extracted what blood she could from the sand. _I hope this is enough to keep her alive until I can treat her in a healing pool._ The entirety of her focus rested on passing the water through the blood to purify it.

“I'm done, now...what are you doing?” Lily breath out, a little in awe at watching Katara bend blood.

“Bloodbending,” She said through her teeth as the last of the sand and impurities were drawn from the blood. “Alright I need you to make a fire dagger and get ready to burn those wounds shut, but only when I say to.” Lily nodded.

She pulled on all the knowledge from her practice sessions with fish and separated a thin rivulet of blood from the ball she had. She coaxed the rivulet down to the lower wound and let it trickle into Azula's sluggish blood stream. The shock of feeling Azula's pulse, weak as it was, almost derailed her concentration.

She repeated this process until half of the purified blood was gone. “Close the lower one now.”

Her hand was poised to bring water down to hold Azula in place if she started thrashing, Azula didn't twitch. The last half of the purified blood took longer, she was beginning to tire. She forced herself to keep going as Azula's pulse was getting a little stronger, with each rivulet of blood that was fed to her.

“Close it.” As soon as Lily had closed the upper wound, she wiped the sweat from her face. She took a moment to catch her breath before pulling out Appa's whistle. Taking a deep breath she blew into the opening as hard as she could.

“Uh is that broken?” Lily's question made her giggle. The un-amused look the little princess shot her, smothered her laughter.

“Sorry, I had said the same thing when Aang used it for the first time. But no, the sound is too high pitched for people to hear. Sky bison on the other hand.” A grumbling bellow sounded from above them at the exact moment she said that.

“I need you to climb in the saddle and dig through the pouch on the far left. Pull out the blankets and bring me the blue bag underneath them.” Lily scrambled up Appa's tail as soon as the bison had landed.

She knelt next to Azula to inspect the cauterized wounds, they looked as good as burns could. She gathered more water from the lake to clean the blood from Azula's skin. She'd just finished when she heard a hoarse whisper. “Why would you help me?”

“I wouldn't be able to call myself a healer if I didn't.” She said trying to keep the venom from her voice. There was no reason to dredge up Azula's misdeeds.

“Don't bullshit me, water peasant. I know you wished I had died. Why?” Azula asked, her biting tone was lessened by the blood she coughed up.

“I lost my mother when I was Lily's age. You may deserve your fate, but she doesn't need to experience that pain.” She replied. She raised her hands and waited until both hands were evenly coated in water. “You should save your strength, I may have saved you from dying, but its still a possibility. May I put you back to sleep?”

There was no answer from Azula. She heaved a weary sigh as Lily returned with her bag. “Hand me the small green jar.”

* * *

“I need you to keep her warm and monitor her breathing, let me know if it changes at all.” She ordered before climbing on top of Appa's head.

“Yes ma'am.” She could envision the salute that Lily had given her.

Shaking her head, she snapped the reins, “Yip, yip”

Minutes after take-off she spotted the orange skinned Titan gliding through the air. The woman easily matched Appa's speed and stayed eye level with Katara.

“Friend Katara any luck locating the missing Lily?” It was hard to not not like Starfire, she was more bubbly than Ty Lee and didn't seem to have a malicious bone in her body.

“Yes I found her,” She waved toward the saddle with one hand. “And someone else too.”

“Glorious, I shall inform Friend Robin...” Starfire trailed off as she caught sight of Azula, wrapped in a cocoon of blankets.

“How serious are Friend Azula's injuries?” The concern flashing in Starfire's green eyes was off-putting for Katara to see.

“How can she be your friend...”She bit out, she did little to stem the anger she felt toward Azula. “how do you even know who she is, and do you even know what she's done?”

Faster than she could blink, she was face to face with Starfire sporting a harsh glare. The effect of which was intensified as Starfire's eyes were glowing, she was terrified. “I am well aware of what she's done to fight a war. She followed orders and executed them to the best of her ability. I know the weight upon her shoulders as a princess. We have shared in the same suffering, rape and torture.” Her stomach lurched violently, but Starfire was far from done. “There is one thing we do not share. I have killed hundreds of my peoples' enemies to protect and to conquer. Raven researched your one hundred year war, there are no records or rumors of Azula taking a single life.”

She had opened her mouth to refute Starfire's argument, to prove her wrong, but the fierce Titan cut her off, “Don't try to throw the _attempted_ ,” Starfire put heavy emphasis on the word. “murder of Aang into this. He wasn't killed. So as my friends and the earthlings say, the point is moot.”

She closed her mouth to take a moment to process what she'd heard. She still couldn't let it go. “Whether or not she has a body count. It doesn't change the fact, she's done inexcusable things.”

“In war everyone's committed inexcusable acts. Some have a choice while many others do not. Do you think Friend Azula had a choice?” The adamant expression on Starfire's face was hard to look at.

“I don't know,” She swallowed the dryness in her throat, “I'm still waiting for an answer. How do you know Azula?”

“Friend Raven brought her to our dimension. Our home is on an island in the bay of the city we protect. Friend Azula never tried to leave.” Starfire had drifted a little ways away from Katara as she answered.

“Why would she take Azula to your home?” She asked, honestly curious as to Raven's reasoning and to try to understand.

“Friend Raven said that Azula was severely injured and being sold to high paying clients on Crescent Isles. Had Friend Raven not handled the situation and those responsible, I'd have hunted them down myself.”

She shivered at the sheer murderous intent radiating off of Starfire.

“I hope Zuko had no knowledge of this. I can't imagine he would have let it continue if he had.”

She saw Starfire's fists clench. “I hope Friend Azula's brother is innocent as well.” 

* * *

Katara guided Appa to land on the outskirts of the refugee camp. There was a small army of people waiting to greet them. Among them were Aang and Sokka, the avatar was grinning from ear to ear. “I told you it was Katara. Pay up.”

Sokka grumbled about 'avatar magic glowy-ness' but dug into his pant's pocket and handed over four gold coins. If possible Aang's grin got even wider.

Katara rolled her eyes at the two idiots. As she moved to check on Azula, she noticed Starfire was hovering nearby. The look on her face was thunderous. Katara scanned the crowd to see what had caught Starfire's attention. Through the throng of people she spotted Zuko making his way toward Appa.

 _This is not going to be pretty._ She thought as she prepared to clash with Zuko about his sister, but first she reassured Lily. “She'll make it.”

“Really?” The hope in Lily's voice was painful to hear. Azula was not in good shape, her pulse was thready and weak, she was still un-naturally pale, and cold. “Yeah but I need to get her in to healing pool to treat those burns and monitor her for infections.”

“Lily, thank the spirits you're okay. Your mom and brother are worried sick...” She glanced behind her to see Zuko staring at his unconscious sister. Through grit teeth he hissed, “What is she doing here?”

“I found her with Lily-”

“Some one bring me restraints!” He bellowed, cutting her off.

“Zuko she isn't a threat,” She couldn't believe she'd just said that.

He glared at her. “Shen attacked her. She'll die if I don't get her into a healing pool.”

“Or that's what they want you to think. Those two planned-” He abruptly stopped talking and stared at something over her shoulder. There was only one person that inspired that kind of response from him.

“Starfire please take,” Katara heard the pain and fear in Raven's voice. When Raven continued speaking, the emotions vanished. “Azula to Suki's house. Cyborg is prepping for a couple transfusions and should be ready to go by the time you get there. Robin and Azula are a match. Katara you will want to follow them to observe the treatment.”

Katara wasn't pleased to be ordered around but she was confused, curious, and tired. A glance at Raven and she agreed. “Of course.”

“Lily-”

“I'm going with master Katara.”

“-your brother and mother would like to see you. Azula won't be awake until tomorrow.” Raven's tone brokered no arguments from Lily.

“Fire lord, a word.”

Katara had very little sympathy for her friend as he trailed after Raven.

* * *

Zuko knew he overreacted to Azula's presence. He was reeling from the betrayal that Raven unearthed. His footsteps faltered as the full brunt of what he'd sentenced his sister to hit him. The bile burned along his throat, he barely made it to some bushes.

On unsteady feet and with a queasy stomach, he caught up to Raven. His insides burned with guilt, regret, and shame. _I should have listened to uncle and Mai. I should have listened._

“Here's far enough.” She said, turning to face him. He shivered as those violet orbs skewered him, he'd have taken the four red eyes she'd sported earlier; at least they were less expressive.

“Far enough?” He asked when it seemed like she wasn't going to say anything else.

“Most of my teammates have excellent hearing and I don't want our discussion to be interrupted.” If anything, her answer put him even more on edge than any interaction with her thus far.

Zuko was the fire lord and he had a good guess as to what Raven wanted to discuss. “Nothing you have to say will change my mind. Azula is dangerous, she's made a lot of enemies during the war. She will be restrained and guarded.”

“I will take full responsibility for any of her actions, as well as ensuring her safety and that of others. Under the condition that she isn't put back in chains or is locked up again.”

His mouth opened and closed in shock. This was not what he expected to hear, not at all. He was having a difficult time understanding what she'd said.

“Crescent Isles is not a prison.” The exasperation was thick in his voice.

“It may as well be.” She growled. He took a step back when the shadows around him started writhing in agitation. “Chains, entire floors coated in ice, the head of staff running a prostitution ring; you pay, we provide the entertainment.”

“I'm going to raze the whole island to the ground.” He muttered under his breath. He had to swallow back the resurgence of bile before he could speak. “If I were to agree to this proposal of yours, I need to know why you're willing to do this for her?”

“Your sister risked her life to protect me, why shouldn't I do the same? She...almost died protecting her daughter.” She could feel the weight of Zuko's disbelief blanketing the air.

“Why should I take your word for it?”

“Believe what you want, I don't care.” In a blink the shadows at her feet rose up and swallowed her.

Zuko's heart was in his throat as he frantically search his surroundings for her. The chill at his back had him whirling around to face her, instead he was met with a giant bird-like creature made of that inky darkness. It was rushing toward him with talons extended, the moment before it would have slammed into him, it stopped.

His heart rate slowed as the darkness receded to reveal the object of his fear. “Its not like you can stop me from doing what I want. Nor can you stop me from freeing your sister from any prison you elect to put her in.”

With a white face and a slight, body wide tremble, he extended his hand for her to shake. Her hand was noticeably cool as he shook it. “Lily overheard us. She knows that Azula's her mother, I'll let you handle explaining that to Rook.” _ **Her grip turned borderline painful as she added, “You will not do anything to prevent them from seeing her nor will you try to take them away from her.”**_

His hand burned with that unnatural cold, long after he'd reluctantly agreed to Raven's terms. Zuko stared out over the ocean, unseeing or rather, he kept seeing that bird-like creature rushing at him. His mind replayed their entire interaction over and over again. Asking him had been a courtesy. With a sigh he made for the council tent; he wasn't looking forward to the coming conversation.

* * *

 **Kyoshi Island; Suki's Cellar/Day 60**  

* * *

Katara was astounded as she listened to Cyborg explain the process of a blood transfusion. From the name alone she understood the gist of what it would do, but to actually get to see the affect was amazing. And the water they'd provided for her to do an assessment...she was going to ask for more.

“Well,” She felt several pairs of eyes boring into her back. With practiced ease she directed the water back into a water skin before finishing her report. “her pulse is stronger now, there's no sign of infection, and other than a few minor scrapes she'll live.”

“That's good to hear.” The sheer amount of relief in Suki's voice was the last straw. Her, but especially her, and the Titans had been worrying over Azula's well being.

As she opened her mouth to vent her frustration, a giant orange fire spirit flickered into the room at the same time Raven stepped through the far wall of the cellar. Upon seeing Lily and Rook rush over to Raven before dragging her over to Azula's bedside, the angry words died in her throat.

“You can heal her, like you healed Lily, right?” Her heart nearly cracked in half at hearing the panic in his words.

“I don't need too,” Raven gestured to Cyborg, both the children turned to face him. “he's our doctor and more than capable of getting her through the worst of it.”

“What if there's a problem? What if she never wakes up and I don't get to say thanks for saving Lil?” The panic was more and more apparent as he spoke.

“Master Katara wouldn't let that happen.” Lily pulled him in for a hug.

“She's right, Roku,” His eyes were wet with unshed tears as his eyes found hers. “I'll make sure you get to thank her.”

“C-can we stay with her, for a little while?” She didn't think anyone could bring themself to say no to him.

“Of course.” She said, not at all prepared for him to give her a hug.

“Iroh, Katara, will you keep an eye on Azula and the kids,” At her nod, Robin continued, “and send for Cyborg if anything changes.” Another nod from her. One by one she watched the Titans ascend the stairs, only Raven lingered at the bottom. Katara eyes narrowed at seeing the shadows nearest to that blue cloak start writhing. It was almost as if the half-demon was physically incapable of walking away from the firebender.

* * *

“Raven.” His tone pulled a low growl out of the half-demon.

“Shen is from our dimension and he's related to Slade.” Her statement left dead silence in its wake. “Something about Lily and Rook's fire guardians ruffled some feathers. From what I've learn through research and picking Iroh's brain about benders; what they can do, isn't normal. Not even for descendants of the avatars. Leading to only one logical conclusion, they're meta-humans as well as benders.”

“How sure are you about that?” He stood firm when she glowered at him. “You very well know if Slade is involved, this is a whole new ball game that we need to approach from a different angle. Shen's motives for trying to take the kids for one are unclear. As well as the brotherhood's presence here. They could just be a distraction.”

“She's right. I don't know who Slade is or what a meta-human is, but she's right that those fire guardians aren't normal. Nearly gave me a heart attack the first time I saw them flicker to life and kill an assassin shortly after we took Lily and Roku in; they were about a year old.” Everyone's attention turned toward the doorway, Mai was casually strolling through it, followed by Ty Lee. Who made a beeline for Suki.

“All that that supports is that Shen is not native to this dimension. It doesn't prove they're related or that Slade was the one to sent him.” Robin said, acknowledging one of her points.

“ _ **Pledge mark**_.”Those two words were all it took to convince him; the final nail in the coffin.

“Fuck.” He sighed before he began to pace the length of Suki's living room. Said warrior, Ty Lee, and the other Titans all shared confused looks; Mai started twirling one of her knives.

“Dude is everyone else as confused as me or...?” Gar said, hoping that either Raven or Robin would explain. He paused in his pacing to lock eyes with Raven, she nodded. He resumed his pacing in the vain hope it would help him think about their next steps.

“When Slade pledged his life in service to Scath, it left a mark on his aura. An impression of the mark appears on the auras of anyone that Slade is related too. To help identify others who'd be inclined to serve. I'm highly sensitive to it.”

“Okay,” Robin made a last circuit of the living room before he glanced at Mai. “Do you have as much authority as Zuko does over the soldiers with you?”

At her nod he asked, “Are you willing to help us stop the Brotherhood and take down Shen?”

“Yes.”

“Right, we know that Slade's goal is to have Shen acquire Lily and Rook for who knows what. Raven can you watch over them?” Everyone shivered as the temperature dropped.

Raven's shadows created a massive centipede with glittering black scales and a blank face. They all watched it skitter from shadowy corner to shadowy corner until it crawled through the cellar's open door. “Fill me in on the details tomorrow.”

He waved in the direction of the cellar. “Bright and early.” They weren't the words he wanted to say, but he trusted her to know her limitations; it didn't stop him from worrying about how far she was pushing herself. He shook his head as she walked to the cellar's entrance.

“However, it doesn't help us with the Brotherhood's motives. Its odd, they haven't made another move after hitting the Fire Nation capital and Ba Sing Sei.” A frustrated breath gusted out of him. “There's only one way for us to force their hand. We need to take back Ba Sing Sei.”

“You and what army?” Mai drawled flatly. Ty Lee sucked in a sharp breath, an unimpressed Mai was a dangerous Mai. She felt vindictive joy when Robin remained completely unphased.

Mai, Ty Lee, and Suki were rendered speechless when he said, “We won't need an army, just Black Magic.”

* * *

The unnatural tension in her body and mind lessened with each stair she descended; the pain from Ty Lee's wounds got worse but she paid it no mind.

_'She's okay mistress.' Intelligence wasn't sure who she was trying to reassure anymore, her mistress or herself._

_'No she isn't.' She sighed and push back the wave of exhaustion creeping in. There wasn't time for her to rest. 'Neither are we. Does Rage have any idea why I'm so tired, yet I feel like I could run a marathon at the same time? Does anyone?'_

_'The damage from Slade and Psimon was extensive,' The frustration in Intelligence's voice mirrored her mistress's. 'It's plausible the attack could've been a cover for something else. If we could get more than a few hours of sleep at a time...'_

_'I know, I know-'_

_'-If we cuddled with Azula-'_

_'-not happening. End of discussion.' Raven refrained from slipping into Nevermore to throttle Intelligence. She was blindsided by the surge of pain as Intelligence's soul-self pulsed._

_'Shut up and listen, mistress. We need to be near Azula while we sleep in order to start recovering from Psimon's attack. Bonding with her was the glue, and guess what? Glue needs time to dry. Skin contact ergo direct contact with her aura will help immensely.' Intelligence stopped to reign in her soul-self, but the migraine was gaining momentum. 'Either you cuddle with her of your own choice or our body will shut down and make it for you.'_

Still reeling from Intelligence's reprimand, she wasn't prepared to be accosted by Katara as soon as she emerge from the stairway.

“What is the meaning of this?!”

“My shade,” She hissed, leaning into Katara's personal space, the waterbender was forced to move back and back until the flat expanse of wall halted her retreat. “will make it impossible for Shen to teleport into the cellar and snatch the children out from under us.”

There was a tension filled silence before Raven blinked and moved to the darkest and coldest corner of the cellar which so happened to be the farthest from the waterbender, her back to the room. “I can monitor Azula for the night. You and Iroh should take Lily and Rook upstairs.”

“You-”

“Perhaps, a good night's rest will be beneficial to all.” Iroh's bottomless calm was a balm to the hurricane of the emotions in the air; her own and everyone else's.

“Goodnight Raven.”

“Pleasant dreams, Iroh. Master Katara.” She gave into the urge and let the grin pull the corner's of her mouth up as she felt Katara's irritation flare at the dismissal. She would speak with the waterbender in the morning; she would thank her.

Not long after they left she was at Azula's bedside, struck with hesitation on whether or not to take one of her hands; needing physical reassurance that there was still a pulse. Her shade crawled out from under Azula's cot and wound around her.

_'Can you tell me what's going or not?' Her tone was soft, as soft as she could make it. None of the other emote's would ever get the same courtesy as Timid and Fear did._

_They were the emotion she had long accepted as a part of her daily life. Fear tried her best to give comfort when she could, empty though it always was, it was the intention behind the action she appreciated the most._

_'Its getting worse by the day. Exhaustion, mood swings, and temperature fluctuations. What the fuck is going on with me?'_

_'Iroh was correct, sleep will help, and I would caution against separation from our Firecracker. Proximity will help, but not too close.'_

_She doubts sleep will be easy to come by. Giving a final nod to Timid and Fear, she focused on her Firecracker._

The half-demon loosed a weary sigh. She needed more than a night's rest, an eternity sounded better, but instead she pushed her cot as close to Azula's as she could. With little to no warning the familiar exhaustion dragged her into unconsciousness.

_'I feel so, so, so unbearably guilty right now. Are you sure Mistress won't be angry?' She asked fidgeting uncontrollably._

_'No, but its what we need to do to help our mistress recover properly. Its not ideal but-'_

_'What are you two up to this late at night?'_

_A squeal that threatened to break the sound barrier escaped from the pink-cloaked emote. As she spun to face the culprit she hissed, 'Damn it, G.J don't do that. I though you were Bookworm for a second.'_

' _Affection, I know you were hiding out with Pride and are new round here and all, but you should keep this one away from caffeine. Red shivers with fear at the mere thought of Candy caffeinated to the gills. So you know, don't do it, kay?' She admonished as she dodged a flailing pink soul-self limb aimed at her head._

_'No caffeine has been imbibed and I much prefer Candy when she is, caffeinated to the gills. Just as I know how much you prefer Red when she's being feisty and making trouble for our mistress.' The words slammed into her with enough force to knock her on her ass._

_‘Y-you just keep that to yourself.’ She stuttered, trying to fight the flush of pink spreading across her face as she rose from the ground._

_‘You’re adorable when you stutter.’_

_Affection's smirk spurned the pink on her face to darken. 'I d-don't stutter.'_

_'If you dare to follow me, I can show you exactly how flexible I can be. ' With what felt like a fire blossoming across her entire body, Courage trailed after Affection, who winked at Candy as they passed by her._

_'I leave the rest to you, pleasant dreams.'_

_The emote sighed and muttered, 'Figures, she'll leave me holding the bag.'_

_'It's a sign she trusts you is all.' A shiver shot down Candy's spine at hearing the voice. When she turned to face the speaker, what she saw made no sense whatsoever._

_Standing two feet away was a emote or something close to it. This wasn't the same as with Affection's sudden appearance; they could feel she was another facet of their mistress. The emote was wearing an armored cloak, kind of like what Azula's emotions wore. The hood of their armored cloak obscured half of their face, but it did nothing to lessen the intensity of their fire filled eyes._

_'W-who are you?'_

_As the stranger closed the distance between them, Candy's muscles froze her in place. The stranger whispered in her ear. 'Call me Firecracker, I'm fond of the nickname, it suits me rather well.'_

_'You must be...the remnant of Azula.'_

_Firecracker stepped back to give the apprehensive Candy, an appraising look. 'You're sharp. No less than what I expected after spending weeks wondering the Pit. Your mistress has some serious issues going on; she's in luck, I can handle them.'_

_She felt as if the air was being squeezed from her lungs. Mistress wasn't going to react well to Firecracker; an entire emote comprised of Azula's emotions was a lot more drastic than the red robins flying around in Nevermore. 'As if our life wasn't complicated enough...'_

_'If it makes you feel any better Azula's emotes will have to deal with Raven version of me.' Firecracker said with a faint smile, hoping to ease the steadily building distress of the pink emote in front of her. She was rewarded with a blinding smile._

_'It does make me feel better, thanks.'_

_'My work here is done. Don't worry about your mistress, she'll be as content as a cat when she wakes up.' She didn't need empathy to sense her confusion. Shooting the pink emote a smirk, she turned to walk away and before she disappeared, said, 'Trust me, I've learned all I need to about Raven; things even she hasn't realized about herself yet.'_

_More than a little flabbergasted at the statement she shook her head and continued her mission. Hoping beyond hope that, come morning, she'd still be in one piece after their mistress was through with her._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Its a bit of a cluster fuck for everyone involved. Zuko as usual is a bit of an Asshat in regards to his sister, but its for reasons which will be revealed eventually. I promise he won't be an asshat forever. Iroh has the patience of a saint and there will be a reckoning between him and Azula in the next chap. Why yes Candy Cane is attempting operation: cuddle time, cause lets face it, Raven and Azula need it. Stay tuned. Please enjoy.
> 
> Lily and Rook's fire spirits are comprise of their fire chi and are semi-sentient, but completely loyal to Lily and Rook. So basically they have fiery guardians that will stop at nothing to follow their commends and protect them at all costs. Yeah...I wouldn't fuck with those kids.


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